


Ashes and Lions

by jetreadsstuff



Series: Lionhearts [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: (shay + nyma and shiro + rolo to be exact), ;t up your alley, F/M, Fix It Fic, Found Family, Friendship, Gay Keith, Gay Shiro, If you only read one work by me, Lesbian Nyma, Lesbian Shay, M/M, Pan Lance, Rewrite, aka my big feelings rarepairs, alien design, bi allura, bi hunk, buckle up it gets wild, but the characters refer to pidge by he him until chapter nine, chicana pidge, everyone has brown eyes everyone, gay rolo, glasses lance, lance & allura are the leads, main character nyma, main character rolo, main character shay, neurodivergent everyone, ones that'll become important later, pidge is referred to by she her pronouns by the narrative the whole time, purple haired allura if there is even a market for that, sharp teethed alteans, show rewrite, thai keith, the action is still in there and it's a lot that's just not the point of the story, unless canon divergent longass rewrites aren, untagged background ships, vitiligo keith, voltron as a character and team focused show as opposed to an action focused show, which is when the story actually gets good so no loss there
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-11
Updated: 2018-05-10
Packaged: 2019-02-13 07:29:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 52,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12979089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jetreadsstuff/pseuds/jetreadsstuff
Summary: For far too long the universe has been without the aid of Voltron. It is starting to look like there is no hope to defeat the Galra, that is, until a group of teenagers and a senior officer discover an abandoned sentient robot lion with one destined pilot, and their lives change forever. Have you ever tried to imagine being part of something greater than yourself?Aka what would Voltron be like if the head writer was a sarcastic salty nb latina lesbian with too much love in her heart and too much time on her hands.





	1. Somewhere out There

On an ordinary day in an ordinary air flight academy, Lance returned to his dorm to the sight of something entirely unordinary; a child sitting at his desk, who, to the untrained eye, would look like a gremlin. To Lance, the child looked like Pidge.

“What are you doing in my room?” Lance blinked. Pidge didn’t even look up from the computer.

“Come in, close the door,” Pidge commanded, dodging his question. Lance raised an eyebrow but he abided by her command.

“Where’s Hunk?” Lance asked.

“He’s hitting the showers because he got grease all over himself. He’s gonna help me when he gets back though,” Pidge answered robotically.

“He left you alone in our room?” Lance demanded. This was strictly Un-Hunk of him. Now Lance worried that his roommate was actually tied up in the wardrobe. Pidge turned around and looked at him.

“Yes,” she said plainly, turning back to the computer.

“Okay but why? You still haven’t answered my question,” Lance pointed out, folding his arms.

“I needed to borrow some parts of your computer,” Pidge shrugged.

“You needed to borrow some parts of my computer,” Lance repeated lamely.

“Yes. Satisfied?” Pidge huffed, inserting a screwdriver into the side of the tower, which appeared to be missing the titanium panel that guarded the cargo of the machine.

“No,” Lance answered, “can’t you use your own computer?”

“I am,” Pidge said vaguely.

“Then what do you need with mine and Hunk’s computer?”

“Lance,” Pidge deadpanned, “you’re one of the smartest people I know.  Use your brain.”

“Okay,” Lance rolled his eyes, “well, I know that the hard wiring from our computer when combined with that of another can make it like, go faster and process better but that still does not answer my question of _why_.”

“Will you shut up if I tell you?”

“I’d consider it,” Lance pushed up his glasses.

“Well I can’t tell you until we get to the roof anyway, now that I think of it,” Pidge mused.

“Pidge I swear to God if you don’t-”

“Hey, guys,” Hunk said from behind them. He was in casual clothes, which was more of a comfort than Pidge or Lance had the luxury of at the moment.

“Hunk,” Lance whipped around, “you let Pidge come in our room? Pidge? I know I said we should bond as a team but don’t you think that taking apart our computer is a but over the line?”

“Pidge said I had to help out, no questions asked. And believe me, I owed a no questions asked,” Hunk answered.

“Yeah, well, I don’t,” Lance huffed.

“Then take one of mine. I must have done a million one questions asked for you at this point,” Hunk shrugged.

“Hunk, the kid is taking apart our computer,” Lance pointed out.

“Guys, I’m almost done. You can chill,” Pidge chimed in, “though I still need Hunk’s help.”

“Sure thing!” Hunk chirped.

“You take orders from him better than you take orders from your pilot,” Lance grumbled.

“Hey, it’s not my fault  that you don’t take crew recommendations,” Hunk pointed out, jamming a screwdriver into the most expensive thing Lance had ever owned.

“I promise I’ll put everything back,” Pidge assured him.

“Are you going to actually put it back the way you found it or is it gonna be like last time when you “fixed” our hot plate?” Lance asked.

“Your eyebrows grew back,” Pidge rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, barely,” Lance grumbled.

“Aaaaand done,” Pidge announced, shoving spare parts into a ziplock bag, “thanks guys. I owe you one.”

“Are you finally going to tell us why exactly you needed the hardwiring from our computer, which, may I add, is more expensive than my car?” Lance demanded. Pidge seemed to genuinely consider the question.

“Well, you guys _are_ my friends,” Pidge sighed, “but….I don’t know if I wanna drag you two into this.”

“Pidge, you signed that warrant when you became my friend,” Lance folded his arms.

“He’s got a point,” Hunk chimed in.

“Okay,” Pidge caved, “but this is like, top secret stuff. It could get us all kicked out of the academy level top secret. So if you really wanna know, you can follow me to the roof. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“You heard ‘em,” Lance shrugged, following her out the door.

“Lance, use your sense, this is Pidge we’re talking about. He’s gonna get us like, murdered,” Hunk said, also following Pidge out the door. As Hunk always said, it’s twice as easy not to follow your own advice when nobody else follows it either.

* * *

 

After a pair of quick showers the trio found themselves standing atop the dorm roof, Lance and Hunk staring bewildered at all Pidge’s gadgets.

“Okay, so, are you finally going to explain why we’re standing on the roof after lights out with what’s left of the computer and god knows what else?” Hunk asked.

“Okay,” Pidge scanned the computer screen, “I’ve been secretly investigating the Kerberos mission.”

“That mission is a cold case,” Lance said, “I read how the ship was found but no one knows what happened to the passengers.”

“Exactly,” Pidge agreed.

“This doesn’t exactly look like our technology. Are you buying electronic goods from some shady guy in a trenchcoat?” Lance asked.

“Not...exactly,” Pidge sucked in her cheeks.

“Pidge!” Hunk protested.

“What? I’m not going to tell you guys everything. But most of this stuff I built. From materials I found...lying around,” Pidge explained.

“Define lying around,” Hunk quirked an eyebrow.

“Wait, is that where my car battery went?” Lance demanded.

“Among other things. Look, this stuff is hard to power, but I promise I never would have taken any of it if I didn’t know it was important,” Pidge insisted.

“I hate to side with Pidge because he’s been stealing our stuff, but you never drive your car anyway. You just clean it and pose next to it,” Hunk pointed out.

“I don’t want to wreck it!” Lance defended.

“What does this stuff even DO?” Hunk asked, prodding at one of Pidge’s devices.

“It-put it down, Hunk-It’s a scanner. It can go all the way to the edge of the solar system. Well, it can now, anyway,” Pidge tapped at Lance’s computer’s mother board.

“And you’ve been doing this how long?” Lance asked.

“Ever since I enrolled-Hunk. Please,” Pidge shot Hunk a glare as he fiddled with a satellite.

“But tonight’s the night that the computer meets it’s maker because?” Lance folded his arms.

“Because usually-Hunk I will not hesitate to throw you off this roof-usually, it can pick up alien chatter like radio stations. But tonight-”

“I’m sorry, did you just say aliens?” Lance scoffed.

“Look, I know it sounds ridiculous,” Pidge sighed.

“ _Sounds_ ridiculous? Try _is_ ridiculous. Pidge, do you really expect me to believe that-”

“Would you just listen to me?” Pidge cut him off, “I was skeptical at first, too, but then I heard the voices. And tonight? The frequencies are off the charts. And I could hear them repeating one word over and over, and it wasn’t clear enough to make out...but their voices were frantic and panicked.”

“And that’s why you needed our computer. Got it,” Lance nodded.

“Exactly, and-Hunk this is your final warning before I stuff you in a shuttle and launch you to the moon-and when I could make out the words, it sounded like gibberish. ‘Voltron. Voltron.’ just on a loop. I mean, that’s not even a word.”

“So, what are your theories?” Lance asked.

“So far I have two. That Voltron is the name of a meteorite headed towards us or-”

“Wait, hold the phone, elaborate,” Lance commanded.

“Well, there’s an unknown substance headed to our atmosphere at a terrifying speed,” Pidge pointed to one of the sonar detectors.

“Well, great, we’re doomed,” Hunk groaned.

“Not quite. I mean, it’s big, and going at the speed it’s at it could do some serious damage. But if it starts decelerating in time, we’ve really got nothing to-”

And that’s when the meteorite revealed itself to be very much not a meteorite, but in fact one of the biggest ships Lance had ever seen in his life. Lucky for him and the rest of Earth though, the ship seemed to be slowing down. That didn’t stop Pidge from yelping.

“Did we have a landing scheduled for tonight?” Hunk asked, hopeful.

“That doesn’t….look….like a standard cargo flight,” Lance worried his lip. The ship landed, thudding loudly as it did so.

“It’s not. I don’t even think that’s human technology,” Pidge squeaked.

“Aliens,” Lance mumbled, not quite believing his eyes.

“Attention students! Lock your dorms at once!  A security situation category Zulu Niner is in progress! Engage lockdown mode!” Iverson commanded over the loudspeakers.

“Oh, man, we are in trouble now,” Hunk groaned.

“This may sound like the worst idea ever, but we need to check out that ship,” Pidge furrowed her brow.

“You’re right, that does sound like the worst idea ever,” Hunk agreed.

“Pidge, we’d never get passed all of those guards,” Lance pointed out.

“Thank you, Lance,” Hunk smirked triumphantly.

“But on the other hand, it’s not like we can get back to the barracks without Iverson spotting us anyway, so we might as well…” Lance continued.

“I hate it when he gets all pros and cons,” Hunk groaned.

“Guys, I picked up some of the video feed. Look,” Pidge instructed. And, though grainy and low quality, displayed a very clear image of a man strapped to a table, surrounded by doctors. The audio feed made Lance’s stomach flip, as it revealed that the man strapped to the table was extremely protestant to be there, begging for mercy and release as the men in suits held him down.

“We’ve gotta help him,” Pidge announced.

“What? Have you completely lost all common sense?” Hunk demanded.

“Pidge is right. Something doesn’t feel right about this,” Lance knitted his brow.

“Usually when something doesn’t feel right, you should back away slowly,” Hunk pointed out.

“Hunk,” Lance locked eyes with his best friend. His eyes glistened with an emotion that Hunk couldn’t read, “that guy needs help. Our help.”

“Okay,” Hunk sighed.

“I’m glad we’re all on the same page, we just need to-” and whatever Pidge was about to say was cut off by a handful of small explosions around the ship, causing all three of our heroes to let out guttural screams. The guards abandoned their posts to go investigate, suspecting an ambush.

“Oh god we’re all gonna die and I never even got to apologize for tampering with the hot plate and burning Lance’s eyebrows off,” Hunk whimpered.

“That was YOU?” Lance shrieked.

“Calm down. It’s not aliens. It’s a distraction,” Pidge pointed to the source of the commotion, someone climbing off a motor bike and racing for the inside of the ship. Lance thought he looked familiar, but couldn’t place it. Then it clicked into place.

“Keith!” Lance shouted, a little louder than he probably should have.

“Who?” Pidge asked.

“How do you know? That guy is wearing a mask,” Hunk pointed out.

“It’s the hair,” Lance grunted, sliding down from the roof.

“Lance,” Hunk protested, “Lance! Come back!” Lance didn’t listen, sprinting for the exit, and Hunk sighed as loudly as he possibly could as he followed his best friend.

“Who the heck is Keith?” Pidge demanded, following the two of them to the ship.

 

Keith burst into the ship, fists curled and ready to fight. Men in hazmat suits charged for him, ready to take him down. But Keith was a lot stronger than he looked, and he counted on that to be part of his leg up on them.

One, two, three guards went down, Keith dodging swipes and throwing punches left and right. The guards grunted loudly as they went down. And that’s when Lance walked in.

“Hold your freaking horses, Keith,” he commanded, “you stole a lot of things from me when we were classmates, but this is my rescue mission.”

“Do I know you?” Keith asked. He squinted.

“Yes!” Lance roared. He glared at Keith, who’s raven eyes were locked on his. Lance had never noticed the color of his eyes before, but with the mask it was kind of hard not to, “It’s me, Lance! We were like, rivals.”

“I think I would remember a rival,” and he did, but it was fun to watch the smoke come out of Lance’s ears.

“Oh come on, you seriously don’t remember?” Lance asked. It finally dawned on Keith when he stared at the taller boy's hair. Oh, that asshole. The cute boy from class who Keith could never quite figure out why hated him. 

“Look, will you just help me out here?” Keith demanded. Lance let out a protestant grunt in response as they made their way to the table, and froze there in shock at the table’s inhabitant.

“Shiro?” Keith breathed out.

“Holy crow, that’s Takashi Shirogane. He’s my hero!” Lance shouted.

“We’ve gotta get him out of here,” Keith pointed out, pulling one of Shiro’s arm around his shoulders, “you gonna help me out or am I gonna have to lug around a guy twice my size?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Lance rolled his eyes, doing as his former rival said.

“You,” Pidge said as she and Hunk bursted in, stopping to wheeze for a good solid minute, “you guys run like, ridiculously fast.”

“Who are these guys?” Keith asked.

“Hunk and Pidge. You can kind of guess which one is which,” Lance answered.

“Well it’s nice to meet you but we gotta get going unless we want our asses fried like butter,” Keith pointed out.

“Who in frilly hell fries butter?” Hunk demanded as the four (technically five) rushed out the door. They were not greeted with affection by the guards, needless to say. In fact, one appeared to be launching at them at top speed. That’s when Keith hightailed it to his motorbike, the rest of the team in tow, and didn’t even stop to catch his breath before starting the thing.

The rest of them clung on with all the strength they could muster, screaming like banshees as Keith appeared to want to kill them. The guards were shooting at them, and Keith was barely dodging the blows.

“Is everyone still alright back there?” Keith shouted over the roaring engine protesting the extra weight.

“We’re fine,” Lance cried, and Keith took this as a signal to speed up, going as fast as the old girl could. They whirred past guards by the hundreds and the world around them became a blur. Lance screamed, clinging onto Keith like his life depended on it. Keith sped towards the cliff, which at the moment seemed to be the only possible escape. As the others saw what he was doing, they screamed in protest as a small grin spread on his face.

“Are you trying to kill us, man?” Lance demanded.

“Shut up and trust me!” Keith commanded as they sped off the cliff. And the world grew slower, and Lance could swear this was the moment he dies. But instead, the bike caught itself and Lance’s teeth slammed against Keith’s shoulder. The four sighed loudly in relief as finally, they were in the clear.

* * *

 

“Shhhh, I think he’s waking up,” an unfamiliar voice said.

“None of us were talking, Lance,” another voice pointed out. And then the words faded back into white noise, drowning out into nothingness for a while---until-

“How do you even know Takashi Shirogane anyway?” A voice asked.

“Uh….long story,” someone grunted, “not important.”

“Is it…” nothingness again.

“Yo, who cut the cheese?”

At last Shiro opened his eyes, gasping for air. He felt his heart rate slow when he realized that the people who surrounded them were harmless kids and not scientists out to kill him, one of whom was Keith.

“Where am I?” Shiro asked groggily.

“You’re in the shack,” Keith explained.

“How did I get here? I remember being…..I remember sedation and then,” Shiro grunted.

“It doesn’t matter that you’re here. Just that you’re safe,” Keith said quietly.

“I….I need some air,” Shiro gulped between words. He looked ready to hurl.

“Right, yeah,” Keith helped him up. Shiro coughed, and tasted copper. An unsettling mix of blood and bile filled his mouth. Keith helped him limp to the door, but once the entrance was open, Shiro shrugged off Keith’s arm.Keith sighed and nodded, closing the door behind his long lost friend.

“Well, it’s safe to say we’re officially fugitives,” Hunk chimed in, filling the thick silence.

“Well, yeah, we knew what we were getting into when we charged after a Garrison prisoner,” Lance pointed out.

“I was already a fugitive, if that helps,” Keith said, looking out the window.

“It absolutely doesn’t,” Hunk answered.

“Hunk, right?” Keith turned to face him.

“Yeah?” Hunk dragged his gaze up from the ground to look at Keith.

“Could you calm down, please?” Keith crossed his arms, “I’m trying to figure out what we should do now that you’re all accessories to a crime.”

“Hey, nobody gets to tell Hunk to calm down except for me!” Lance protested.

“Lance and Hunk are just loud and passionate people, dude, you’re going to have to get used to it,” Pidge instructed Keith.

“Noted,” Keith said, giving Lance a once-over.

“Okay, you said you were trying to figure out what we’re gonna do,” Lance said, veering the conversation towards the task at hand, “mind sharing any of those bright ideas with us?”

“My shack is pretty remote, but it might not be remote enough. If someone manages to track us down, it could end very, very badly,” Keith drummed his fingers on the doorway.

“Define badly,” Lance crossed his arms.

“Like, uh, we could be killed for possessing an unknown amount of information about a prisoner on that ship,” Keith answered bleakly.

“They can’t kill us, we’re students of the Garrison!” Hunk pointed out, looking like he was about to lose his lunch.

“ _You_ are,” Keith, as if it were possible, managed to look even more serious, “but so was I. And I messed up. And I barely escaped with my life. So, yeah, your cute little backpacks and student IDs aren’t going to help much.”

“How, pray tell, did you manage to ‘mess up’?” Lance asked, leaning on Keith’s desk.

“I was asking too many questions about Shiro’s disappearance. I started investigating. And over at the Garrison, they aren’t exactly fans of investigation. They tried to kill me for asking questions, Lance. Now I want you to imagine how bad it would be, if the Garrison find out that you broke curfew and helped an expelled student break into a high security facility and escaped with someone who they had tied to a table to search him of god knows what kind of information.”

“Okay,” Lance huffed, withdrawing his previous question, “so what are you saying we should do instead of sitting around here like fish in a barrel?” Lance asked.

“Honestly? I suggest we move West and leave what lives we have behind before they find us,” Keith sighed.

“Easy for you to say!” Lance protested.

“And what is that supposed to mean?” Keith demanded, claws digging into his skin.

“I…” Lance suddenly realized how awful what he said was. _Just in time, as usual,_ he scolded himself.

“We can’t leave everything behind!” Pidge argued, “I can’t...I can’t leave my mom behind. I’m all she has.” Tears brewing in her eyes looked giant with the lenses of her glasses.

“I’m sorry,” Keith said solemnly, “but if we go back there, they’ll be looking for us.”

“Keith is right,” Lance mumbled. All of the eyes in the room fell to him.

“I’m sorry, did I just hear you saying that Keith was right?” Hunk asked.

“Look, I don’t like it either, but what happens when the Garrison comes knocking on our doors and they find us hiding out in plain sight? If something happened to my family...I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.”

“This...Is awful,” Hunk looked down again. Keith suddenly felt like an intruder on a private moment between people who had family close enough to them to grieve over.

“I’m going to go check on Shiro,” he announced, “I’ll leave you to...uh.” He didn’t bother finishing his sentence, only fleeing his house. Shiro stood atop a small hill about fifty feet from the shack. How he managed to make it there by himself in the shape he was in? Keith was afraid of the answer. He made his way up the hill and outstretched an arm to place on Shiro’s shoulder.

“Keith,” Shiro managed. His limp was prevalent even when he was standing still.

“Shiro,” Keith responded, eyeing Shiro’s various wounds, “It’s good to have you back.”

“It’s good to be back,” Shiro sighed, turning his gaze to Keith, “and it’s good to see you, Keith.”

“Where have you been?” Keith asked, clenching his jaw, “What happened to you?”

“I…” Shiro looked away again, “I honestly don’t know. I wish I did. But the memories...they’re fuzzy. I make out part of a memory and it gives me a headache.”

“I’m glad you’re okay. I thought that-nevermind, not important. Let’s just focus on the fact that I’m glad to see you okay,” Keith repeated.

“I have you to thank for that,” Shiro chuckled, “you and...who are those kids?”

“Oh,” Keith sharply inhaled, “well, there’s Pidge. The small one with glasses? He’s...interesting. Got a knack for technology, though. I see Pidge being a good ally.”

“Go on,” Shiro encouraged.

“Then there’s uh...The big guy is Hunk. A nickname, I guess. He likes to tinker. He’s touched all of my stuff and reworked half my electronics.”

“I see why Pidge hangs out with him, then,” Shiro observed.

“And then,” Keith gritted his teeth, “Then there is...Lance. The tall one with the perfect skin and the glasses and the soft looking curly hair. He’s very difficult.”

“Uh huh,” Shiro quirked an eyebrow.

“What?” Keith demanded.

“Nothing, nothing,” Shiro focused all his attention to a peculiar looking cloud to avoid making eye contact with Keith, “so what’s the plan?”

“Head West,” Keith grunted, “get as far away from the scene of the crime as we possibly can get. I may have to shave my head again to avoid being identifiable but-”

“That’s your plan?” Shiro was baffled.

“Yeah?” Keith blinked. He saw no issue in his plan, but he remembered the argument that arose before, “The others are pretty distraught, but Lance agrees it’s the best plan.”

“Keith, these boys have families,” Shiro pointed out.

“Unlike me. Yeah, got it. I’m not gonna lie, that stung. And I feel for them. I do. But there are things that I know that you don’t, Shiro, things that would make you agree if you knew them.”

“And those things would be?” Shiro demanded.

“We...need to get back inside,” Keith changed the subject.

“Keith,” Shiro said in a warning tone.

“Shiro,” Keith retorted, snarl gracing his face. Shiro knew he wasn’t going to budge, so he begrudgingly sighed and followed him back inside. Lance jumped up from a chair.

Lance seemed to want to speak, but in place of normal words, a single puff of air escaped his lips.

“Alright, listen up,” Keith commanded, “I’ve been conducting a lot of research since being booted from the Garrison, and I-”

“You were booted from the Garrison?” Shiro cut him off.

“We can talk about it later,” Keith shot Shiro a stern look, pulling back a sheet on the wall to reveal a series of photos and clippings,  “anyway...When I was booted, I found myself out here. Drawn to a specific place. Wandering. Searching. And there’s a large area of boulders. There’s got to be at least a thousand caves out there. Some of which...are covered in markings. They’re symbols, but if they’re in an ancient language, it’s one I don’t recognize a lot of the markings.”

“I can’t recognize any of these symbols either,” Pidge observed.

“Right. But they also have images, cave drawings. And they tell this story. Stories, really, all about this blue lion. They all clue into some kind of huge event yesterday. But I’ve never been able to figure out whether it was a good event or a bad one.”

“Then we showed up,” Lance chimed in.

“Then you showed up,” Keith echoed, turning towards Lance, “and honestly? I’m still not sure.”

“Rude,” Lance scoffed.

“Thank all of you for helping me,” Shiro said sheepishly, turning to Lance, “Lance, right?”

“Right,” Lance breathed, and shook his hand, cool steel meeting Lance’s palm instead of skin.

“That’s Hunk over there, trying to find his happy place, and I’m Pidge,” Pidge explained.

“It’s nice to formally meet you all,” Shiro smiled warmly.

“Did anyone else from the crew make it to safety?” Pidge asked, furrowing her brow.

“I wish I could tell you, Pidge, I really really do,” Shiro sighed, “Memories come in pieces and with migraines accompanying them.”

“Right,” Pidge tried not to look too disappointed.

“So, uh, am I the only one that remembers that we’re on the brink of an alien invasion?” Hunk demanded.

“Not to give into pandemonium, but Hunk’s right. Should we be panicking right now? Should I get ready to scream?” Lance asked.

“I remember,” Shiro groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose, “I remember the word voltron. I believe it’s a weapon that they’re searching for, but I don’t want to find out what happens when they find it.”

“Okay, well while I was reading Pidge’s diary-” Hunk chimed in.

“You what?” Pidge roared, swatting Hunk’s arm.

“I was looking for the class notes and your diary found me. Not my fault the class notes were impossible to find,” Hunk defended.

“Is there a point to what you’re saying or should we just be making sure all of our stuff is locked up from now on?” Lance asked.

“Well, the sequence of numbers that the aliens have been searching for look a lot like a Fraunhofer line,” Hunk explained.

“A fraunhofer line is a number that sums up the emission spectrum of an element,” Lance explained to Keith smugly.

“I know,” Keith snorted. He did not know, “so what does the….Fran...hofer line describe?”

“An element that doesn’t exist on Earth. Voltron, maybe? Anyway, bright side, I think I can put together a Geiger counter for this Voltron. Wouldn’t even take me that long if _someone_ wasn’t so touchy about his possessions.”

“Brawn and brains. Look out ladies and gentlemen, Hunk is a double threat!” Lance gestured to Hunk dramatically.

“Alright, so what are we standing around here collecting dust for? Let’s get to work, team,” Shiro commanded.

 

* * *

 

They’d been wandering the desert for god knows how long, sand filling their lungs, eyes and noses as Hunk led the way. He made a low humming sound when he concentrated, endearing most times but it was pretty unnerving right about now. The Geiger counter beeped, breaking what would have been silence if not for the howling winds and the humming.

“I’m getting a reading,” Hunk announced to the group, moving forward with increasing speed as the beeping got continuously faster. He gained speed with each step until he was practically running to the tune of the beeping, the others struggling to catch up. They found themselves in a cave that seemed like all the other dark caverns they’d happened past throughout the day. That is….until they noticed the markings.

“These are the ones I was telling you about!” Keith announced.

“I don’t get it. You said that there’s markings on a lot of the caves. Why is it that the Geiger counter is going nuts in this specific one?” Lance tapped at the device.

“An answer I am afraid to find out the answer to,” Hunk whimpered.

“These are actually really cool,” Lance said, examining the markings, “I’ve never seen anything like these. Not by a long shot.”

“Cool? You think alien markings pointing us to god knows what are cool?” Hunk asked, giving Lance a death glare.

“Well, uh, yeah. It’s almost like…” Lance cautiously reached his hand out to trace the outline of the lion’s head. He felt a sudden rumble, and the previous dark and desolate cave was illuminating slowly, marking by marking.

“They’ve never done this before,” Keith furrowed his brow. And that was when the floor gave way. The five let out a series of screams as they fell farther and farther down. At last they reached the next level of the cave.

“Is everybody alright?” Shiro grunted.

“Define alright,” Pidge responded, picking her glasses out of a puddle. How moisture managed to get down here, she didn’t know.

Something glowed in the corner of Lance’s eye. At first he was afraid to look, but he  still dragged his field of vision to the source of the light. A massive robotic lion stood before them. Eyes opening. She awakens.

“Is this….Voltron?” Pidge asked.

“Take a wild guess,” Lance snorted. Pidge rolled her eyes.

“This must be what’s causing all the weird energy around here. I wonder if we could bypass the force field,” Keith approached it, entire body vibrating in wake of the robot.

“I feel...Like it’s looking at me,” Lance cautiously took steps toward it, tingling.

“Maybe you should try to get through to it, Lance,” Shiro suggested.

“Why me?” Lance asked, shuddering.

“It’s looking at you, isn’t it?” Shiro pointed out. Lance groaned and nodded. He drew in several shaky breaths before rapping his hand gently at the force field.

“Hullo?” Lance asked, folding his hands. He let out a scream as the field fell and the lion purred. He stopped screaming, however, when the clear image of his surroundings was replaced by an even clearer image of four other lions dancing in the sky beside the blue one, intertwining and transforming into an even larger robot. _Voltron_ , an unfamiliar voice said. Lance could hear the metal scraping together, the wind howling in his ears, the sun beating down on him...wherever he was. It was so real, he almost  forgot that it was a vision, until everything went back to being dark and cold.

“Did…” Keith started.

“Everyone saw that, please tell me everyone saw that!” Lance was caught between fear and excitement, his favorite mix of emotions.

“Voltron isn’t just a weapon, it’s also a giant robot,” Pidge rubbed at her forehead.

“An awesome and terrifying one at that,” Hunk added helpfully.

“So there’s more lions out there we have to find before they do?” Shiro asked.

“Hey, pal, we’re all here standing together in front of the same giant robotic lion,” Lance pointed out. The lion took this as an invitation to move, ancient gears grinding together, jaw unhinging with a loud creak, and let out a loud roar. There was another round of screaming.

The beast of metal lowered its head and opened its mouth, ramp extending towards Lance. Lance didn’t even hesitate before climbing up into what seemed to be a cockpit, ignoring his friends screaming. Something told him to sit in the chair at the center of the head, so he did, and the chair flew forward. The others followed him into the head, and the lion enclosed them into it. Before they had time to scream once more, the inside lit up a similar shade of blue as the markings and it was forming...some sort of computer?

“Whoa,” they all said. Controls appeared in front of Lance.

“Noice,” was all Lance could manage to say.

“If I had known I was going to spend the afternoon in an alien cat head, I would have just stayed in bed,” Hunk winced.

 _It is so wonderful to finally meet you all,_ the unfamiliar voice from before returned.

“Can everyone hear that?” Lance gulped.

“Hear what?” Keith responded.

 _They cannot hear me, love, only you. I’m transferring my thoughts to you through our telepathic connection, though how weak it is at the moment_.

“The lion is talking to me,” Lance gasped.

“The hell?” Keith asked. Lance scanned the buttons carefully.

“I’m going to try to fly this thing,” Lance said, almost in disbelief of himself.

_Push that button there. No, dear, the one above that. There we go._

“Brace yourself,” Pidge instructed Keith.

“Wha-” Keith couldn’t even get half a responce out before the lion launched upwards, and he hit the back of his head against something metal. The lion burst through the ground above, sunlight suddenly blinding them.

“Okay, let me try something,” Lance announced, half to his passengers and half to the lion as he pushed a lever forwards. The speed of the lion increased tenfold, crew screaming loudly at him.

“If this is how you guys felt when I drove off the cliff, I would like to sincerely apologise,” Keith groaned, slamming into Hunk. The others screamed loudly as the lion headed further and further away from ground, spinning and weaving as it did so. Lance felt a small amount of oxygen escaping the lion, and he felt the instinctive need to draw in a ragged breath.

_There’s an alien ship just outside of the atmosphere. You can stop it. I believe in you, Lance._

“We need to stop that alien ship,” Lance was determined, but that didn’t stop his lungs from deflating as he said these words.

“What ship?” Hunk demanded, but his question was quickly answered as a ship easily ten times as big as the blue lion appeared almost out of nowhere. Lance gripped the edge of the dash, a bead of sweat forming at his brow. He repeated to himself that he could do it at least a hundred times, until suddenly the answer of what to do came to his mind. He pushed several buttons and the lion roared, shooting a beam of some kind at the ship.

The ship exploded, sending the lion flipping backwards at least a couple thousand light years and Hunk’s stomach into knots. Lance hit his head on the dashboard, and let his head stay there for a moment, jaw so clenched he could feel a pulse in his cheek, eyes shut tightly.

 _Lance. Open your eyes. Please_. Lance groaned and lifted his head to see a wormhole opening just ahead of his lion. And just in time, too, as a fleet of ships showed up just ahead.

_You need to go through that wormhole._

“We need to go through that wormhole,” Lance echoed.

“We don’t know where that thing leads. For all we know it could be to somewhere way worse than this,” Keith pointed out.

“Shiro. You’re the senior officer here, what do you think we should do?” Lance asked.

“The lion has to know more than we do about whatever’s out there. It’s my opinion that we trust it. But it should be a group decision,” Shiro answered. Lance looked to the others. Pidge gave a nod, Keith a sigh, and Hunk a thumbs up.

“Okay, well, I guess we’re ditching class tomorrow,” Lance sighed, and moved the beast forward to it. It should be stated that going into a wormhole makes all your organs feel like jelly.

_Go, child. Your destiny awaits._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woooo boy this got out of hand  
> i made some edits of what the characters look like in this au, which you can find on my writing blog here: https://cryptid-kogane.tumblr.com/tagged/lionhearts  
> as well as other stuff. If it says "not found" don't fret i just haven't posted them yet. Check back in a few minutes.  
> my fandom blog: https://moonsofmercury.tumblr.com  
> Comments and Kudos are ALWAYS welcome. ALWAYS.


	2. Destiny

_ Love, look _ , the lion commanded, causing Lance’s eyes to finally shoot open. His surroundings were unfamiliar, yet welcome as they approached a planet. Certainly a good change from their surroundings of black nothingness. They entered the atmosphere quickly.

“Look, sunlight! Sand!” Lance shouted.

“We can see the same things you can, Lance,” Keith pointed out. 

“I….shut up, or you have to wait outside the castle,” Lance sputtered.

“What castle?” Shiro asked.

“Uh, up ahead,” Lance pointed, and there was, in fact, a castle just a few kilometers ahead. Of course with how fast they were moving, you’d think it had been only a few feet ahead. Lance gently landed the robotic lion. 

_ The atmosphere is similar to Earth’s. You’ll be able to breathe fine. _

“Okayyyy,” Lance pouted slightly as he reached for the lever that opened the latch.

“Lance, did your brain leak out of your ears?” Hunk demanded.

“No…..Maybe,” Lance huffed, “she said it was okay.”

“The lion is a she?” Shiro asked.

“Uhhhhhh,” Lance trailed off, “I think so?”

_ Yes. _

“Yeah,” Lance announced. He pushed the lever gently, and the lion’s mechanisms complied with a slight protestant creak. 

Keith was the first to actually step outside of the lion, relieved when the atmosphere didn’t immediately kill him. Lance followed suit, “accidentally” bumping Keith out of the way as he slid down the ramp. Then Shiro followed. Then Pidge, cautious yet curious as always. It was a few minutes before Hunk finally left the lion.

Almost immediately, the blue lion snapped her jaw shut and lifted her head, then proceeding to let out a powerful roar. Hunk screamed, but the lion did not try to harm them. The roar acted as a key, opening the large door to the castle.

_ Go on. There is much to do. _

“You’re not coming with?” Lance asked, slightly disappointed in a way that he didn’t understand. 

_ No, Lance. I would love to join you, but I am afraid that I must stay here. I will see you again soon.  _

Lance let out a hmph as he left his new robot best friend behind, and entered the castle with his friends in tow. The five tried not to allow the unsettling atmosphere unease them. Finally, at the end of the long passageway, there was a room. At the center of the room there was a computer.

“Cool!” Pidge said, wasting no time before gravitating right to the computer, “Alien technology!”

“Pidge, didn’t your parents ever tell you not to play with mysterious alien technology?” Shiro asked.

“I don’t think anybody’s parents have ever told them that,” Lance pointed out. 

“Well, if anyone’s parents would, it would be mine. But no, they never lectured me on the danger of messing with alien technology that they didn’t know existed,” Pidge answered, pushing six random buttons at once. One such button triggered a chamber of sorts to rise up out of the ground, smoke curling around it like a stage platform at the most badass super bowl halftime concert of all time. 

It got weirder still, as the group could see that there was...a person inside. Though, not for long, as the shield quickly disintegrated, and the person inside opened her eyes and gasped. She fell immediately forward, crashing into poor bystander Keith. 

She grunted and stood, look of confusion eclipsing her face. Hunk’s eyes widened, and he tried not to stare, he really did, but she had the prettiest curly purple hair he’d ever seen in his life, and her eyes were a lovely shade of brown, with shiny dark blue pupils at the center. At least, he was pretty sure those were the colors. It was hard to tell with the colorblindness. She also had two glowing marks at the center of her cheeks, bright red. No, green. Hunk’s wistful attitude was quickly dismissed, however, as she immediately started screaming. 

“Who the quiznak are all of you? How did you get in my castle? Where is my father?” She demanded. The look on her face was one of fury. But there was something beneath that. Fear. Anguish.

“We um…..Should I answer the questions in the order they were asked or…” Lance asked.

“Where is my father?” She repeated.

“I’m sorry. We don’t know where your father is,” Shiro explained relatively calmly. 

“How...how did you get here?” She continued. Her marks seemed to be changing from red to blue. 

“A blue alien cat robot brought us,” Hunk answered.

“You….have the blue lion?” She asked, “How can this be?”

As if hearing her question, another rose out of the ground. This time a middle aged looking man with similar facial markings and orange hair fell out, crashing into the floor.

“Okay, how many more of those can we be expecting, just for future reference?” Hunk asked. 

“Princess! You’re alright!” the man sprung up and rushed towards the apparent princess.

“Coran, what is going on?” The princess worried her brow.

“It appears that someone has recovered one of the lions,” Coran’s eyes drifted to the group.

“But...father has the lions. Where is he, Coran, where-”

“Princess, I understand your confusion and fear. But please, remember to breathe,” Coran instructed.

“I am breathing fine,” the princess snapped, “now, tell me where my father is. That is an order.”

“Your father,” Coran looked down. His voice grew solemn, “King Alfor knew how grim the circumstances were. There was an attack, and he sent us into a chamber sleep, sending four of the lions away.”

“He sent them away?” the princess looked like she wanted to faint, “Coran…”

“There is little chance that your father survived,” Coran closed his eyes tightly, “depending on how long we’ve been asleep-”

“Well don’t just stand there, figure out how long we’ve been asleep! Quickly!” the princess commanded. She must have realized how her desperation seemed to make her forget her manners, because she quickly softened her tone, “Please.” she added. 

Coran cleared his throat and headed for the computer. He pressed a sequence of numbers, eyes widening with shock.

“Allura, we have been sleeping for ten thousand years,” he finally said.

“So, that means….” Allura didn’t finish. 

“Your father entrusted me with your safety. Although, he did download his thoughts and memories into an AI, in the castle somewhere,” Coran continued.

“An AI?” Allura lost her balance, and would have fallen if a very confused Hunk wasn’t in her path, “I feel sick.”

“I’m afraid that Voltron...Altea….Everything has fallen,” Coran said, and fell silent. 

“I’m so sorry,” Lance breathed out, “I can’t imagine the emotions you’re going through right now.”

“No,” Allura regained balance, “we will not sit here stewing in grief while the Galran Empire, for all we know, is still thriving.” Just then, almost on cue, several small animals with appearance akin to mice on Earth ran to ease Allura’s distress. Allura let out a gasp and a hollow, shaky exhale. She smiled down at them and lifted the mice in the palm of her hand, “Coran, look, we aren’t the only Alteans left after all!”

“Okay, three questions, what the hell, what the fuck, and what the damn,” Hunk interjected. 

“What Hunk here is very eloquently trying to say is that we have no idea what’s going on, but we’re here to help in any way we can,” Lance reassured her.

“Thank you,” Allura smiled weakly, “I do suppose I owe all of you an explanation. But first thing is first. I am Princess Allura of Altea.”

“I’m Lance. Of Earth,” Lance reached out a hand for her to shake. Allura squinted, seemingly unfamiliar with the custom.

“I am Takashi Shirogane, though most call me Shiro,” Shiro smiled.

“I’m Hunk, also of Earth,” Hunk said timidly.

“Keith,” Keith simply said, offering no further explanation.

“I’m Pidge,” Pidge folded her arms.

“It is very nice to meet you all. I only wish it was under better circumstances,” Allura sighed, “this is….was, my father’s advisor, Coran.”

“Charmed,” Coran smiled, “now, of course, there are far more pressing matters, such as rebuilding voltron-”

“Rebuilding Voltron!” Allura scoffed, “Am I hearing this right? I understand it has been several thousand years, but from my perspective, my father has been gone only a moment, and you search to fill his seat immediately.”

“You are right. I am sorry. Perhaps if we took a few quintents to recover-” Coran started to apologise. 

“Coran, please, I need to know the urgency of finding new paladins for voltron. To ease my mind, would you try to find information on the Galran Empire’s reign?” Allura interrupted. Her voice was quiet, and yet it still commanded attention.

“Of course, Princess, but I must warn you that in ten thousand years, our technology may have become outdated. I’m afraid I may not be able to access information as easily as I would like,” Coran explained.

“Maybe I can help,” Shiro chimed in. All eyes fell to him.

“You have information concerning the Galran Empire?” Allura asked, half hopeful and half distressed.

“That word...It’s familiar. Galra. I heard it a lot while I was in,” Shiro looked away, “while I was in captivity. They had purple skin and terrifying yellow eyes. The Guards. I heard the prisoners talking about them too, like they could rip them in half with a snap of their fingers.”

“Purple skin? Yellow eyes? That sounds to be a description of a Galran,” Allura glared, “these vile people kept you in captivity?”

“Yes,” Shiro answered, “from what I gathered, they are world destroyers. They take over planets one by one, enslave the people, and then destroy everything in their wake.”

“Father,” Allura squeezed her eyes tightly shut, “my people. They enslaved and tortured innocents who had nothing to with our fight. I can’t imagine the detestable things they would do to someone they held a grudge over.”

“Princess, no good can come of imagining the fate that befell your father. His suffering is long over. He is at peace,” Coran offered a comforting hand to her shoulder. She smiled weakly in his direction, but the comforted look quickly faded from the princess’s face.

“My father’s suffering may be over, but Shiro is living proof that they have not changed their despicable ways. You were right, Coran, we must keep fighting for those who cannot protect themselves. We have to form voltron!” She roared. She looked determined, and fixed her gaze on the humans, “If, of course, you all would be willing to fight alongside us.”

“I’m in,” Lance said, stepping forward.

“If it insures that no one else will have to go through the same things I did, I’m in too,” Shiro agreed.

“Shiro is right. And I’m in,” Pidge smiled.

“Yeah, count me in too,” Keith stepped forward. The four looked hopefully at Hunk, who gulped.

“I’ll do it,” he sighed, “if these people think they’re gonna destroy my home, they’ve got another thing coming!”

* * *

 

Coran and Allura led them into a large training room, larger than a house. There were around five doors lining the two walls opposite of each other, presumably leading to smaller training rooms. Allura stood at the center of a control panel, inputting code and trying not to accidentally set the thing on fire.

“Alright, welcome, future paladins of Voltron, to the training deck. This is where we determine which lion of voltron you are most fit to pilot. You see, these machines are very much alive, and they form a very special bond to each of their paladins, not one that can be forced,” Allura explained.

“That explains why I could hear the lion’s thoughts! Or….something like that,” Lance exclaimed.

“That’s right!” Allura beamed, “Now, each of you will enter one of these rooms, and a simulation that is almost eerily real will begin. There will be four levels to each, and each level will either eliminate the possibility of piloting a certain lion, or highlight personality traits that highlight which lion is suitable for you. No two of these rooms are alike. I have chosen a simulation room for each of you based on how you outwardly present yourselves, reflecting only the most basic knowledge of your personalities. However, the more you interact with the simulator, the more it shifts to fit your mannerisms and personalities.”

“What happens if two of us are perfect matches for one lion. Or...or one of us is fit to pilot none of them?” Hunk asked.

“We will have to deal with that problem as it presents itself. Worse comes to worse, Allura or myself will pilot a lion, and if two of you are perfect for one of them? Probably a more fixed simulation that determines the best choice,” Coran continued.

“Hunk, you will be in that simulation room there. Pidge, yours will be the one across from his. Shiro, you shall take the one there, two doors to the left from Pidge’s. And as for Keith, you will be the one on the end there,” Allura instructed.

“What about me?” Lance chimed in, “Don’t I have to be tested?”

“Lance, you are to be a paladin. A great one at that, you already show a strong connection to your lion. But once one lion has chosen you, another cannot. The blue lion chose you. She saw a light in you. You and you alone are destined to be her pilot. That is why there are four simulations instead of five, Allura assured him.

“Oh?” Lance grinned triumphantly.

“You may still take the simulation, should you like,” Allura added, “it is a very engaging training process, one that greatly stimulates the mind. Or, you may wander the castle, so long as you avoid mine and Coran’s bedrooms in the East wing. Or, you may continue to forge a bond with your lion.”

“Maybe a little of both. Those last two things, I mean,” Lance grinned, “Good luck though, guys!”

“Oh! Yes, you all may head into the simulation rooms. I wish you all good luck in your simulations,” Allura felt a bit sheepish that she hadn’t thought to wish them luck before one of her guests did, “and remember, there are no wrong answers.”

“I wish you all to be spritely clovenheifers when you get your results, don’t want you laying with your ears in the mud like a weblum on a planet too close to the sun,” Coran added.

“With all do respect, Coran, what in stars do you mean by that?” Shiro raised an eyebrow. 

“You know, spritely clovenheifers, they jump when they get excited,” Coran looked at them as if this was information they all should know.

“I’m sorry, what?” Hunk scratched his head.

“Perhaps it is better to not explain our jargon to the humans until after they get accustomed, Coran,” Allura pointed out.

“Yes….” Coran rubbed his chin, “Well, good luck! Or some Earthly expression!”

“Where we come from we say break a leg,” Pidge added helpfully. 

“That’s terrible!” Coran drew back, “Why would you wish someone luck by threatening injury to them?”

“It’s….uh…..I’ll explain later,” Pidge smiled, and headed into her simulation room. The rest of them followed suit, thus beginning the first of many, many exhausting training routines they would endur.

* * *

 

“So,” Coran clapped his hands together, “that should take more than a tick for the paladins to finish their simulations. What would you two like to do?”

Allura stayed silent, letting the bleakness of the situation reveal itself and coil around her like a boa constrictor. Lance made a quiet squeaking noise. It seemed like neither of the youngsters had the motivation to actually do something.

“Well,” Coran smiled, “right. I do actually know something Allura can do, I’ll have to find something to occupy Lance myself.”

“I don’t feel like doing anything right now Coran,” Allura looked outwards towards one of the windows.

“Allura, it’s not much, and I know it won’t be the same as speaking with your actual father, but the AI is fully operational,” Coran assured her.

“I lost my father, Coran, no replacement you provide will ease my grief,” Allura snapped. It went silent for a while after that.

“Princess, believe me, I understand your grief. I lost my family. I will never be able to speak to them again. To…..to say goodbye. You however,” Coran looked towards her, “you have that chance. It is your AI and you may decide its fate, however you see fit. But you are being offered an opportunity that I would take in a heartbeat”

“I understand,” Allura said slowly, “Coran, please take me to the AI.”

And so Coran did, leading them down a long corridor and towards a room with a door unlike any other in the castle. Coran ceremoniously pushed the button to open it, and what was behind the door was unlike anything Lance had ever seen. The sky was the most vivid shade of blue, clouds like hazy mist settling in over the mountains. 

It looked like stepping outside the castle again, but not quite. Actually, what it really looked like was a painting, If Lance concentrated, he could almost see brush strokes. And every part of it was moving independently, constantly shifting. Allura cautiously stepped forward.

“It looks,” she breathed, “it looks like Altea.”

“Go on, Princess,” Coran said slowly, “the simulation is just for you. It is small, but it feels-”

“Like home,” Allura finished, stepping into the painting. She starkly contrasted to the background, looking far too real to exist inside the brush strokes. The door closed behind her, and Coran opened his mouth to say something, presumably solemn based on his facial expression, but he shook his head and stayed quiet.

“Does Altea really look like that?” Lance asked, breaking the silence.

“How do you mean?” Coran retorted.

“Like a painting. Like, does everything look so…...animated?” Lance explained.

“Yes, yes it does. Did. The simulation is a direct recreation of how King Alfor remembered it, down to the texture of a blade of grass, to the smell of the flowers,” Coran smiled fondly.

“It was so….beautiful,” Lance said, “it looked like nothing else I’ve seen in my entire life.”

“Really, I could recreate almost any planet to an eerie likeness, unless said planet was unusually hot. Could melt the censors,” Coran continued.

“Wow. That’s so cool!” Lance marveled. Coran chuckled. 

“Well, Lance, I will take that as a compliment,” Coran cocked his head to the side, “what would you like to do now?”

“I dunno,” Lance answered plainly. Silence.

“I know!” Coran snapped his fingers, “You could pick out your living quarters.”

“No offense, Coran, but uh, that doesn’t sound very fun,” Lance folded his arms. 

“I can see why,” Coran laughed, “but look at it this way; you get the first pick of rooms. You have the opportunity to choose the best room before anybody has the chance to.”

“Interesting,” Lance grinned, stroking his chin. 

“I hoped you would have this sort of reaction,” Coran mirrored his grin and motioned for Lance to follow him, leading him presumably to the living quarters. Finally, they reached a very wide hallway on the other end of the castle, identical doors lining each side.

“Now then,” Coran cleared his throat, “each of these rooms was, at one point, completely uniform. However, as time passed and each tennant customized it to their liking, adding quirks and details as they pleased, each room became on its own a spectacle.”

“Cool,” was all Lance could manage to say. Coran pressed a series of buttons on what looked semi-similar to a fuse box back on Earth. All of the doors in the hall opened almost simultaneously. Lance raised an eyebrow, cautiously glancing into each room. He felt oddly out of place in each of them, like he was taking over a room that had not yet been abandoned. He shook his head at each of them, weaving his way in and out of around twenty rooms. 

Coran thought it might never end, that pickiness was a virtue in Lance that he was going to have to learn to deal with. That is, until Lance stepped into a room and didn’t feel that eerie out of place feeling. He instead felt like he was stepping into the house of a very dear friend. He knew it was impossible. 

There was a bed on the left side of the room, parallel to a dresser on the right. The dresser itself had items scattered all atop it, items that still shone as if they had not sat there collecting dust for ten thousand years. 

Fancy drinking glasses, most of which were filled with rings and other such small treasures, spilled over onto the sides. Lance made his way to the other side of the dresser, and his eyes fixed on a photo collage on the side. The collage covered every centimeter of the side, spilling over onto part of the wall. Many of the photos contained a blue alien, smiling brightly in all of them. Lance assumed he was also the photographer.

Lance spotted Coran in a lot of photos, and Allura with varying heights, ages and hair colors. He made a mental note to ask Allura about that later. Of course, there was trends of a lot of characters sprinkled across the collage. One photo in particular invoked something in Lance. This was a photo of the blue guy, grinning as always, inside the blue lion’s cockpit with a smaller pink alien sitting in his lap, arms wrapped around the blue guy. 

Lance carefully lifted it from its place on the collage and examined it carefully, as if it were a precious gem. He turned it over to see alien text, presumably reading the date of the picture and the characters within the image. 

“This one,” he said, eyes still on the photo, “this is my room.”

“Interesting choice,” Coran grinned knowingly, “may I ask why this one in particular?”

“I dunno, I just,” Lance sighed wistfully, “this one is perfect.”

“Interesting that you would decide on this one all on your own,” Coran kept his smile in place, but his tone was softer, “this was the room of the original pilot of the blue lion.”

“Really?” Lance smiled, staring back at the photo. That explained why this photo took place in the blue lion. It almost explained why he felt so at home in here, in a way. Like the two pilots had a connection beyond having similar taste.

“Indeed,” Coran nodded, “I’m sure he would have been very pleased that you like his room so much.”

“Who’s this in the picture?” Lance asked, shoving it towards Coran. Coran in turn squinted at it.

“Oh, that’s him! The original pilot, Blaytz,” Coran exclaimed.

“Blaytz,” Lance repeated.

“He quite enjoyed taking photos. Never went anywhere without his silly camera. It slightly annoyed his maid that his bedroom was 50% scrapbook and 50% hamper,” Coran laughed, “and with him, that’s Kael. Kael was a very good friend and advisor of mine. Not to mention he was Blaytz’s Soul Bond.” 

“Soul Bond?” Lance asked. 

“Right. Forgot about Allura’s rule of no jargon,” Coran rubbed the bridge of his nose, “a soul bond is a term for a suitor.”

“Oh! They were boyfriends?” Lance asked. 

“More jargon,” Coran sighed, “Kael was the one that complemented Blaytz’s personality best in the galaxy. The two were inseparable. I believe they were destined for one another. They did too, really.”

“On Earth, we call those soul mates,” Lance looked back at the photo.

“Interesting,” Coran furrowed his brow. 

“Coran?”

“Yes, Lance?”

“Tell me about Blaytz. What was he like?” Lance asked.

“Oh, absolutely,” Coran sat down on the floor, “what would you like to know?”

“Everything,” Lance answered.

“That could take a while,” Coran chuckled.

“We have time to kill,” Lance pointed out. 

“Alright, well, um,” Coran frowned, “I swear I can think of something, I’m just not good under pressure! Let’s see. Um, he had a big family, to start from the very beginning.”

“So do I!” Lance practically shouted.

“Blaytz had ten siblings in total, and he loved each one dearly,” Coran continued.

“I have three older sisters and two older brothers,” Lance interjected, “I always thought that was a lot. But ten? Wow.”

“Oh, yes. And it showed in how caring he was. He felt the need to befriend everyone, and usually got that wish!”

“He sounds…..really great.”

“He was. There is no doubt in my mind that if he were still here, the two of you would get along splendidly.”

“Tell me more.”

“Well, Allura called him Uncle Blaytz. He knew her her whole life. She stuck to him like a koala bear to a tree. I would never admit it to his face, he was Allura’s favorite uncle by a long shot. The two of them did everything together. Let me tell you something, Lance, constantly having a small princess clinging to him was a pretty accurate summary of his character.”

“Wow.”

“That’s how he met Kael actually. Allura had to have been oh, ten or eleven, and Kael was having a meeting with Alfor and some of his advisors to basically interview him. Kael was always journalling away. And little Allura wandered into the conference room, took one look at Kael and decided to play matchmaker. There’s no word better to describe what she did with the poor young journalist than she dragged him to the hangar.”

“Wow. My little niece Allie is always doing stuff like that. The first time I brought Hunk home, she asked if he was going to ask me to marry him or if it was going to be the other way around. I laughed it off, but Hunk just about died of embarrassment,” Lance laughed.

“Kael was extremely bashful when Allura revealed her motives, and it would be a while before the two warmed to each other. However, they were in close working quarters, and Allura is very good at the matchmaking game. Eventually, the two were inseparable. Now,” Coran looked down solemnly, “now I don’t even know if Kael or Blaytz survived.”

It fell silent, and Lance almost regretted asking to begin with. Almost. Finally, the silence was broken, but not by either of their voices. Rather, a siren blaring throughout the castle. 

“Distress alert!” Coran shouted, “I could tell you more later, Lance, if you’d like. However, right at this moment, we have to get to that signal and see if we need to be preparing for doom.” Lance didn’t waste time apologizing for bringing up a sore subject. He only nodded and followed Coran, swallowing the dread that took hold of him.

* * *

 

Allura couldn’t believe how real it was. The textures felt exactly as she remembered them. If she closed her eyes and breathe just right, she could almost convince herself that Altea hadn’t fallen, that it was just another day.

“Allura,” a familiar voice said.Her eyes shot open and her gaze fell to her father. Or…..a simulation of her father. He was holographic, she could tell. The rest of this simulation was so real, why couldn’t her father’s replacement reflect this quality. 

She silently scolded herself for even thinking of this as a replacement at all. Still, the hologram was too close for comfort, without being close enough in likeness for Allura to completely let herself fall into the illusion. 

“Father,” she said it with as much excitement as she could possibly muster, though she was still hesitant to move. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.

“It is good to see you,” Alfor smiled.

“It is….good to see you, too,” Allura managed. The words somehow stung the back of her throat. 

“I am terribly sorry about the events that transpired,” Alfor continued. This snapped Allura into action for the first time. 

“Your apology means absolutely nothing to me,” Allura spat.

“Allura,” Alfor sighed.

“How could you say you’re sorry?” Allura squeaked, “When you doomed me to grieve for the rest of my life?”

“If something had happened to you in that battle, I never would have forgiven myself, Allura,” Alfor shot back.

“Exactly! I will never forgive myself for what has happened to you, to Altea. How could I?” 

“You cannot blame yourself for a decision that was mine, daughter,” Alfor pointed out, though it sounded more like he was begging her to not blame herself.

“I should have resisted more. I could have stayed, I could have fought. I could have helped-”

“You would have died!” Alfor shouted.

“You don’t know that,” Allura gritted her teeth.

“Allura, you are a skilled fighter. You are my worthiest adversary. And there is no doubt in my mind that you would have helped. But the battle was fruitless in the end, it would have ended in massacre with a hundred more fighters. Every hope was lost without the lions. Except for you. You were the last remaining hope to stop Zarkon, and you still are.”

“You should not have sent the lions away to begin with then!” Allura scoffed.

Alfor stayed silent. Allura kneeled down to the ground and refused her urge to weep. She stayed like that a while, hugging herself and calming herself to be able to speak once again. 

“Voltron was our greatest tool and Gods know where it is! We had an army then. Now I am alone,” Allura didn’t bother hiding the tears falling out of her eyes, “you didn’t even give me a choice. To stay, to fight with you. I may have died. But I would have died with my family. I’ll never see you again and I’m so…..scared, father. I am scared that I cannot do this without you.”

“You are the strongest woman I ever knew. You can do this. I believe in you. And for what it’s worth, Darling, I know we should have stayed, we should have fought. We might have lost Voltron, lost everything. But we may have also emerged victorious. And Zarkon’s tyranny would not have spread ten thousand years.”

“It still only feels like an instant has passed,” Allura looked down.

“Allura?” he asked. Allura forced herself to meet his gaze.

“Yes, father?”

“I do still believe that you have what it takes to be a great leader. There was never a doubt in my mind about that. You alone can save the galaxy. You alone  _ will. _ ” Allura wasn’t feeling any more confident, or any less like she suddenly had a massive weight on her shoulders. But for the first time, it felt like she was actually speaking with her father, rather than shouting at herself in an empty room holding the illusion of Altea. 

Suddenly, she heard a loud, Piercing siren ring through even little Altea. She gasped, knowing that whatever the distress signal was, it couldn’t possibly be good. It was right in the name. Distress.

“Good luck, Allura,” Alfor said, fading out of the simulation.

“Wait! What do I do?” Allura pleaded, “Father, I-”

“Princess!” Coran shouted, bursting into the room, “There is a distress signal!”

“I can hear that!” Allura screamed over the siren, covering her ears. 

“We have to get to the control room quickly!” Coran hollered, “Don’t worry though! It would be a much sharper noise if the Galrans were already here and attacking!” That didn’t do much to ease the knots in Allura’s stomach. She followed Coran and Lance to the control room. 

There, Coran managed to at least turn the damned thing down, that Allura was grateful for. 

“Now then,” Coran trailed off, pushing many buttons to see what the distress signal was communicating to them. His eyes went wide.

“What?” Allura demanded, fear setting in on her face.

“Good news first or bad news? Oh whatever, everyone needs good news first. The good news is that nobody is attacking right now, and we are safe for the time being here on Arus,” Coran explained.

“What’s the bad news, then?” Allura folded her hands.

“Well, the bad news is that an attack…..an attack is on its way,” Coran answered.

“How soon?” Allura sucked her cheeks in. Coran waited a while before answering.

“A quintent. Maximum.”

“A quintent?” Allura echoed, “We must pull the paladins out of their simulations! We have to get the lions before….before…..”

“That’s not exactly how it works, I am afraid,” Coran sighed, “they must complete their simulations, and there’s work to be done after that still.”

“One quintent isn’t exactly time for proper training, Coran.”

“I know princess, I know. As much as it pains me to say this, being sitting ducks is pretty much our only option.”

“We’ve beaten evil before with worse time crunches, we can do it this time,” Allura said, doing little to boost her own confidence.

“So,” Lance asked, “now what do we do?”

Wait. That’s all they can do.

 

* * *

 

When the five paladins finally exited their respective simulations, Allura greeted them with a mixed look of concern and the look you have when you’re trying to seem calm and composed when in reality  you’ve just accidentally elbowed your teacher in the ribcage and you’re trying really, really hard not to get detention.

“I hope you all enjoyed your simulations!” Allura chirped. 

“Like hell we did,” Pidge muttered under her breath. 

“The green lion,” Allura continued, trying to remain chirpy, “is inquisitive and daring. Its pilot needs a personality to match it. This lion, the simulation predicts, is suited best for Pidge.”

“What? Really?” Pidge couldn’t manage to hide her grin.

“Way to go!” Lance cheered. 

“The yellow lion is one of the two legs of Voltron. The pilot and his lion alike will hold the team up. Its pilot needs a personality that is caring and selfless. He will hold the team together in trying times. Hunk, that is you.”

“Wait, me?” Hunk yelped. He suddenly felt bashful.

“Yes, it seems like you’ve got quite the caring personality,” Allura smiled. 

“That’s my best friend right there!” Lance whooped.

“The red lion,” she continued, “is the most difficult of the five to master. It is temperamental and unstable. But also swift and agile, with a pilot of great instinct to match. That is you, Keith.”

“Pfft sounds like Keith,” Lance rolled his eyes.

“Doesn’t that mean you think Keith is agile with great instincts?” Pidge asked.

“I meant the temperamental part,” Lance scoffed, “and the difficult part. Obviously.” 

“Paladins, please focus,” Allura sighed, “Onto the Black lion. The leader and head of Voltron. Its pilot must be  a born leader. Decisive. You, Shiro, seem to be the perfect fit.”

“Thank you very much, Princess,” Shiro smiled warmly at Allura, and Allura found herself feeling slightly guilty for her smile being not quite as genuine. 

“I hope you all are happy with your lions,” Coran chirped, “now then, onto more pressing matters. See, while you all were in your simulations, we got a rather severe warning signal from the castle.”

“The galra are on their way to claim the black lion. I assume after ten thousand years keeping the Empire intact, they have only gotten stronger. I will not let them win again. We must find the other three lions, and quickly,” Allura furrowed her brow. 

“Excuse me, Princess, but isn’t there FOUR other lions out there?” Pidge chimed in. 

“The black lion is locked tightly at the center of the castle. I’m afraid it can only be recovered, however, when all four of the other lions are present,” Coran answered.

“The good news, however, is that we have managed to locate two of the lions. Coran says their locations are linked to my life force. And both of them inhabit peaceful planets,” Allura continued.

“At least, we think they are peaceful,” Coran grinned.

“Wha-What do you mean by you think they’re peaceful?” Hunk rapidly clasped and unclasped his hands, a tactic to help him calm himself down.

“Which lions have you located?” Shiro asked, brushing off Hunk’s concern.

“The Green Lion and the Yellow Lion,” Allura’s expression of repose faded into another emotion, not one the team could quite pinpoint, but it was surely negative, “my connection to the red lion is not as strong I’m afraid.”

“I’ll go with Pidge to find the Green Lion. Just in case the planet isn’t peaceful,” Shiro chimed in, “Lance, you go with Hunk to find the yellow lion. Keith, if Allura finds out where the red lion is while we’re gone, you two should go get it. For now, you should stay here.”

“What? Everyone else gets to leave but I have to stay here?” Keith grumped.

“It’s for the good of the universe, son, trust me,” Coran agreed. Keith mumbled something in response and crossed his arms, knowing better than to test Shiro’s patience at this point. 

The rest of the team set off, leaving Allura, Keith, Coran and the mice alone for God knows how long. Keith pinched his lips together into the most awkward smile that has ever been formed, aiming it at the purple haired princess and her advisor. Allura stretched her face into a similar sort of awkward smile, a low humming noise erupting from her throat as if to fill the silence. 

“Well, I should get to the control room and guide the paladins to their lions. Goodness knows they definitely need it,” Coran cleared his throat and attempted to shimmy his way out of the room. 

“Coran, wait,” Allura commanded, “I would like to see my father again.”

“As much as I would love to grant your request, Princess, under the circumstances it is probably best you stick with Keith here,” Coran said, tapping a gloved finger over his orange moustache. 

“Why’s that?” Keith asked. He was met with a glare from the princess, causing him to backtrack immediately, “Not to say I wouldn’t enjoy spending time with the princess, I’m just curious, is all. I swear.”

“Actually that’s exactly it!” Coran laughed, “Well, more or less. See, since Voltron is connected to Allura, the stronger her connection to the pilot of the red lion is, the better she’ll be able to detect it. At least, that’s my suspicion. I will holler at you both when the paladins return. Or you holler at me when you can feel the red lion’s presence. Whichever comes first!”

Coran headed for the main control room, leaving the two socially awkward teenagers to converse. It was a good while before either of them spoke, Allura being the first of them to break the silence.

“So….” she cleared her throat. Okay, so she didn’t do much to break the silence. At least she broke it at all.

“So,” Keith echoed, running his thumb along his clenched fist. 

“Uh, would you like to pick a room?” she asked sheepishly.

“Excuse me?” Keith raised an eyebrow.

“A room. For….sleeping, you know, general activities like that?” she tried not to submit to the awkwardness this whole conversation had carried, “Lance has already chosen a room. While you were in simulation. I figured since we have some free time now, you should get to follow suit.”

“Uh, yeah, okay,” Keith shrugged, letting the princess lead the way to the living quarters. He scratched at his arm relentlessly as they walked, a nervous habit her could never quite seem to shake. 

Keith opened the door to one of the rooms. It was small and cozy. Well, maybe not cozy, exactly. The chrome and bright light seemed to match the mood of a hospital. But still, Keith was used to being in a small space. And the rest of the castle was so giant….this felt like a nice change of pace.

“This’ll do,” he said.

“Are you sure this one?” Allura bit her lip.

“Yeah, why? Is this the one Lance picked?” Keith asked, digging his nails even further into his skin.

“Close,” Allura chuckled, “he picked the one next door.”

“Ugh,” Keith sighed.

“I was under the impression that the two of you did not get along well, so I thought I’d warn you,” Allura explained.

“I like this room,” Keith huffed, “if Lance gets all, you know, Lance about it, then that’s more his problem than mine.”

“Hmm,” Allura considered his words, “it’s not as if you have any luggage, but would you like to leave a sign that you have claimed this room of some kind?”

“Uh, like what?” Keith asked.

“I haven’t a clue,” Allura looked away. As far as social interactions go, this one was not the best. Finally, Keith nodded and walked to the door, hanging his dark red jacket on the hook by the door.

“Cool. That should leave a message,” Keith cracked his knuckles, “so what now?”

“I was hoping that the room choosing portion of the day would last just a little bit longer,” Allura huffed.

“Well, what do you want to do?” Keith asked.

“I want to go back to bed for another ten thousand years,” Allura grunted.

“Seriously,” Keith cocked his head to the side.

“Well, since you asked, there’s a lot to do around this castle. Of course, not much of it can be done with only two people,” Allura folded her hands.

“Oh,” Keith sighed. The two went silent once again for a good while. This time Keith was the one to break the silence this time, “is there something we can do specifically to strengthen your bond with the red lion?”

“My bond with the red lion is fine, thank you very much,” Allura glared “it’s just been ten thousand years. That’s it. Forgive me if part of my connection was severed in the war.”

“Why do you do that?” Keith squinted at her, trying to read her emotions.

“Do what?” Allura straightened her back.

“You get all…..snippy. Especially with me,” Keith pointed out, “did I do something jackassy? I do a lot of jackassish things.”

“Jackassy?” Allura asked.

“Uh, it means to be rude. If so, I’m sorry. I’m not good with people,” Keith attempted an apologetic smile, but it fell flat.

“No,” Allura sighed, softening her gaze, “you haven’t done anything jackassy. A record, I’m sure, you won’t keep for long.”

“Okay, fair,” Keith blew a strand of hair out of his eyes. 

“I’m simply upset because my connection to the red lion isn’t as strong as I hoped it would be,” Allura explained. 

“Don’t worry, Princess, I’m sure we’ll manage to strengthen the bond enough in time,” Keith assured her.

“I just figured it was strong enough already,” Allura said softly, leaning against the wall. Keith leaned on the wall too, and looked towards the solemn princess.

“Is there something extra cool about the red lion?” Keith asked, “Because if you’re hiding something awesome from the new pilot-”

“My father was the pilot,” Allura cut him off.

“What?” Keith asked.

“My father, King Alfor, he was the first pilot for the red lion. I guess I assumed that since I was so close to the pilot, I would be able to find the red lion first. Maybe second. Not last,” Allura scoffed, “Part of me…….part of me held out hope. You know, that nobody would be a good fit for the red lion. I hoped I would be red’s pilot.”

“Oh,” Keith nodded.

“For what it’s worth though,” Allura smiled, “I do see that you’ll make a wonderful pilot for the red lion.”

“Oh yeah?” Keith straightened his shoulders.

“You have the same shine to your eyes, you and my father,” Allura beamed. 

_ Allura. There isn’t much time _ . A voice said. Allura grunted and her knees buckled. She used the wall for leverage to steady herself.

“Are you okay, Allura?” Keith asked, rushing to her side.

“I can feel the red lion. It’s very faint, but I think I can pinpoint a location if she guides me,” Allura huffed.

“Come on, Allura, let’s get you to the control room,” Keith helped her balance, and the two didn’t waste any more time with idle chit chat, not when there was a galaxy to save.

* * *

 

“SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK!” Lance screamed.There were at least twenty ships that had a good tail on them.

“DIDN’T CORAN SAY THAT THIS PLANET WAS SUPPOSED TO BE PEACEFUL?” Hunk demanded.

“Yes, my bad,” Coran said sheepishly through the comms, “the good news, the yellow lion is located in that cave just up ahead.”

“OH THAT’S PEACHY ALRIGHT, THAT SOLVES THE REST OF OUR PROBLEMS, NOT LIKE THERE’S STILL AN ARMADA UP OUR ASS AND IT’S NOT LIKE THAT CAVE IS AT LEAST THREE KILOMETERS AWAY!” Lance shrieked.

“.....Kilometers?” Coran asked slowly.

“Oh, forget it,” Lance huffed. Another ship took a shot at them, knocking Lance’s glasses right off.

“So, Lance, what’s the game plan here?” Hunk asked. Lance returned his question with the look he always gave when he was about to do something ridiculous and leave Hunk in the wake.

“It’s not a great idea, per se,” Lance put on his best ‘please don’t kill me’ look. 

“Whatever it is, it is not,” Hunk argued.  
“I’m gonna have to drop you in,” Lance said, shooting back at one of the ships.

“You’re gonna WHAT?” Hunk fell backwards.

“Hunk, buddy, I know it’s scary, and it’s going to be really hard, and there’s a lot of safety variables here-”

“Not helping!” 

“Right,” Lance furrowed his brow, “look, buddy, there’s no way I’ll be able to hold them off long enough to gently land and let you in there.”

“So your solution is to drop me on a hostile alien planet?!?” Hunk scoffed.

“I believe in you, you are strong enough to get through this. And the sooner you get that lion, the sooner we can get back to the castle and be safe,” Lance pointed out.

“Like HELL I am strong enough,” Hunk yelped.

“Make sure you tuck and roll,” Lance said, and before Hunk could ask what the hell he was going on about, Lance opened the bottom hatch and Hunk barely had time to flip him off before he fell from the blue lion.

_ That was NOT very nice, Lance _

“I know,” Lance groaned.

Hunk tucked and rolled as he had been told to, but it still hurt a lot to hit the ground. Hunk then proceeded to make a break for the cave, Lance shooting off ships to protect Hunk while he ran. Hunk screamed literally the entire time, until he reached the inside of the cave and he could properly hyperventilate. He leaned against the wall, and almost immediately yellow glowing marks lit up all around him, similar to the ones in the cave that guarded the blue lion. 

He noticed there was what appeared to be an alien elevator in the corner there. He swallowed his fear and made his way towards the ancient elevator. If he wasn’t at risk of dying, he would be fascinated with the mechanisms that formed it. He pushed one of the buttons but nothing happened, short of a high pitched creak.

“Great,” Hunk huffed as he pulled the button off, carefully examining the wires that it hid. He haphazardly attempted to cross the wires, sending a shock to his fingers. He huffed, trying again, cursing Lance’s name under his breath all the while. This time, to his amazement, it seemed to work. Elevator doors creaked loudly as they opened, and Hunk grinned. Victory.

Meanwhile, Lance was absolutely getting his ass handed to him by these Galran sentries. He shot once, they came back with firepower increased tenfold. He was exhausted, and it showed in how much slower he responded to attacks. Finally, one of the Galran ships sent a blast towards the cave that inhabited his best friend.

“HUNK!” Lance shrieked, racing towards the blast. Before he could reach it, however, the yellow lion broke free from the cave, deflecting the blast easily.

“Lance when I get up there I am kicking your ass all the way back to Earth!” Hunk shouted through the intercom.

“Hunk, you have no idea how happy I am to hear you threatening to kick my ass!” Lance laughed. 

“I’m glad, buddy, but let’s get the hell out of here!” Hunk shouted.

“Aye aye,” Lance nodded, though he knew Hunk couldn’t see him. He commed Coran as fast as he possibly could, not even managing to get full sentences out, “Coran! Wormhole! Now!”

“Right on it!” Coran confirmed, and a hole opened in the sky almost instantaneously, spelling out their freedom. 

“Come on, Hunk, let’s hurry before we get our asses fried,” Lance instructed.

“I’m trying, but this is about as fast as this thing moves. Luckily it has some sick armor, so I think I’m safe on the way up!”

The two made their way up in the lions in a fairly timely fashion, and fortunately enough, without Galran ships in tow. Lance thanked the stars that he hadn’t been destroyed and pushed the yellow lion quickly through the wormhole. 

* * *

 

Pidge and Shiro found themselves on a grassy green planet, inhabited mostly by moss and rivers rather than hostile soldiers. Although, Shiro nearly crapped his pants when a friendly sloth offered help to them. A ferry ride to the Green Lion it was, and if only Hunk and Lance knew, they would be absolutely fuming.

“I hope I get along with my lion,” Pidge said, out of silence.

“I’m sure she will,” Shiro assured her. Pidge nodded.

“What if she doesn’t?” Pidge asked.

“Are you always this anxious?” Shiro laughed.

“Pretty much,” Pidge blinked. She didn’t understand what was funny about that. Shiro didn’t either. He knew he had meant it as trying to ease the tension, but now he actively wished he was dead. 

“I hope you get along with the green lion too,” was all Shiro could say to diffuse the situation. He gulped. The only experience he really ever had with kids was Keith and Commander Holt’s daughter. He had previously, before this moment, at least, considered himself to be good with kids. He was wrong. He was always wrong.   
Jeez, how long was this river and how many more long, awkward pauses would Pidge have to endure. She had no idea how to make conversation with this man whatsoever.

She could talk to him about the Kerberos trip, though he didn’t really see how she would accomplish such a thing without revealing her identity. Besides, she didn’t know if that was a sore subject for Shiro. It was certainly a sore subject for her. 

“So,” Pidge said, without even thinking, “I was in the Garrison space program.”

“Oh, really?” Shiro smiled.

“It was after Keith left and the whole Kerberos thing happened though, so I don’t really know what happened there. But I was high ranking,” Pidge said.

“Really?”

“Oh, yeah. All 100%’s,” Pidge grinned, “I would have graduated way early if it wasn’t for this nonsense.”

“Your parents must have been so proud.”

“Well…..my mom was,” Pidge choked on her own words.

“Oh.” 

“Yeah. And not that defending the galaxy is nonsense, or something, it’s just that I get impatient and I miss my mom and my dog and all that. I really wanna get back soon. To take care of my mom, I mean. I’m kinda all she has left,”  _ Oh, nice going, Pidge, oversharing as usual but actual vital information that could expose you this time, _ she scolded herself silently.

“That’s too bad,” Shiro coughed. He had no idea whatsoever how to talk to this poor kid, “I know what that’s like though. Only really having one person. I used to be in that situation. Still am, I guess.”

“So you get it,” Pidge picked at a bandaid on her leg.

Finally, they approached an island. Where there wasn’t sand, there was moss and trees. Pidge wished she had her inhaler with her, and for luck, she reached in her pocket for it just in case. Empty. 

She walked to a large hill, cursing her own name under her breath. You know that feeling when you’re in a situation that seems like the weirdest thing in the world, and if you told yourself just a few hours ago that this was going to happen, you would have thought you were having some sort of weird, elaborate dream? Multiply that by like, a million. Then you might have a fraction of the feeling Pidge had as she climbed this alien mountain on an alien planet, preparing herself to fly an alien mecha cat and save the universe. 

She reached the top, and a feeling of dread washed over her, like whatever was in the gaping hole at the top of the hill would swallow her whole. She was half right. Finally, Pidge peered inside, and as the friendly green lion’s eyes lit up, she wondered why she had been so worried just seconds before. 

* * *

 

When they located the red lion, they wasted no time. Keith, with Lance and Allura, headed for the location….unfortunately a Galra ship. Heavily guarded. Because why not.

“Okay, listen hotshot, do you have any idea where your lion is?” Lance asked, hopeful but not expectant. 

“Not really,” Keith huffed.

“What?” Lance squeaked, “You’re supposed to have this, like, super strong connection to your lion!”

“I do. And I feel her. I just have no idea where she is,” Keith grunted.

“Well, you’d better hurry up and strengthen that connection,” Coran said over the comms, “we have less than a varga before the Galra get to Arus.”

“I’m trying,” Keith sniffed. He inhaled deeply several times.

“Are you….trying to detect your lion by scent?” Lance demanded.

“Whatever works,” Keith grumbled. 

“He’s got a point though, Keith. Sniffing? I just…..sniffing?” Allura scoffed in disbelief.

“Okay, keep running lip, see what happens,” Keith pointed an accusatory finger at them. 

“Oh, I’m so threatened!” Lance said in a mock-scared voice. He snorted. As if they decided to appear right then for comedic effect, several Galran soldiers raced towards them, guns blazing.

“Oh, fantastic, you had to say something?” Keith groaned, running for another corridor, the other two in tow.

“Oh, you think I summoned them myself?” Lance shouted.

“Does now really seem like the time, guys?” Allura asked, panting. She feared she already knew the answer.

“No, of course not. You’re not talented enough to summon Galra soldiers out of thin air,” Keith scoffed.

“Excuse me?” Lance demanded.

“Alright, clearly it does seem like the proper time. If one of you soldiers could just shoot me dead right now, that would be lovely,” Allura announced.

“I see it!” Keith shouted. The red lion was, in fact, in plain view. Keith raced for the lion as fast as he could.

“Alright yeah we’ll just take down this army by ourselves we don’t need any help this is a FABULOUS idea you fucking jackass!” Lance griped, shooting at one of the soldiers.

Keith ran for the red lion, landing at her feet. Well, not quite. There was a force field. 

“Uh, hi, red lion. I’m Keith, your pilot. If you could just let me in please so I don’t die at the hands of Galra soldiers.”

The red lion didn’t even move or blink or anything. Keith groaned. This was how it was gonna be, huh? Fine. Keith knocked. It worked for Lance, didn’t it? Nothing. Well, nothing save for a mild electric shock.

“KEITH IF YOU COULD JUST PLEASE HAUL ASS FOR GOD’S SAKE!” Lance shouted to him.

“Look,” Keith grunted, “I’m not asking for much here, red, just let me in.”

Nothing.

“KEITH HELP”

“Oh for f-” Keith cut himself off and swung his sword fairly violently at one of the soldiers, “quick question, is me saving your ass gonna be a regular thing here?”

“Only if you keep getting us into situations where I need my ass saved in the first place,” Lance answered.

“Is the phenomenon of you two being annoying gonna be a regular thing?” Allura interjected, “If so, I think I’d rather fling myself out this airlock now.”

“The airlock!” Lance gasped, “Allura, you’re a genius!” The blue paladin raced for the large window on the side of the ship. He flung it open with as much force as he could, sending Galra soldiers flying out of it. It neutralized the threat of the soldiers pretty quickly, but now Allura and Lance were in danger. Goddamnit, Keith thought to himself as he raced towards the airlock that Lance was currently slipping out of. Keith slid towards the poor boy hanging on for dear life, knuckles already white behind his armor. 

Keith reached his hand out to grab Lance’s, holding Allura back as he did so. Lance struggled to grab his hand, but when he did, a new problem arose of Lance not wanting to let go of the ship with his other hand.

“Lance, grab on!” Keith commanded, “I’ve gotta pull you the rest of the way back in here!”

“What if you drop me?” Lance clutched his hand tightly.

“Lance. I’m not going to drop you.”

“How can you be sure?”

“Lance, if we’re ever going to work together, you’re going to have to trust me.”

“He’s right, Lance,” Allura chimed in.

“Do you trust me?” Keith asked, reaching his other hand out.

“I trust you,” Lance sighed, letting go of his grip on the airlock. He swung his free arm around, finding and gripping Keith’s shoulder.

“Now, get to the blue lion!” Keith shouted.

“Keith, is that mullet seeping into your brain?” Lance asked.

“I still have to earn Red’s trust. Get to safety, now!”

“Keith, we are not leaving you!” Lance insisted.   
“I! SAID! NOW!” Keith roared, shoving the two away from the airlock. Allura and Lance finally headed for the blue lion, as Keith gripped the door to the airlock. He attempted to swing himself towards the red lion, but the rusty hinges of the airlock door finally couldn’t take the pressure anymore, deciding instead to suck Keith into the terrifying vacuum of space.

_ Alright, I’ve had my fun. _ A voice said. 

Meanwhile, Keith was still floating in space, screaming like a banshee, when all of a sudden, his lion, the last thing he would expect to save him, came to his rescue. The thing swallowed him whole and put him in the driver’s seat. 

“Good kitty,” Keith said, grinning.

_ Don’t patronize me, dipshit.  _

“You must be red. Why do I have the feeling that blue was much nicer to Lance about this whole situation?”

_ Because she probably was. Anyway, you showed a lot of instinct and selflessness in there. Not gonna get a gold medal for it, or anything, but I trust you now. Good on you. _

“Thanks,” Keith sighed in relief.  
_Right then_ , Red said, opening a wormhole as fast as she could, _let’s get the hell outta here._

* * *

 

The six arrived back on Arus right on the tick of time, as when they got back, the castle was just a few dobashes away from being ripped to shreds. The four lions parked gently outside the castle, all of them letting out loud, powerful roars. 

As expected, this unlocked the large door, revealing the legendary black lion inside. Shiro cautiously approached the metal beast, still worried that his lion may reject him, bringing an end to this whole brave crusade. 

Just as Shiro was about to greet the lion, the Galra struck their first attack. A powerful blast hit the castle. 

“What do we do?” Pidge asked, trying to hide the worry in her voice.

“Lance, Keith, Hunk and Pidge, you guys get in your lions and hold them off,” Shiro commanded.

“Are you serious? Is he serious?” Hunk looked like he was ready to take a vacation a la launching himself in the astral plane, “You expect us to hold those guys off? With no training?”

“Just for a minute,” Shiro assured him, “while I gain this lion’s trust. I promise, the four of you will be fine. Then, we’ll form Voltron and destroy this fleet.”

“Shiro is right. We’ve gotta hold ‘em off,” Lance agreed.

“Oh, Lance, always the hero attitude,” Hunk whimpered.

“Hey,” Lance grinned, “if I don’t get to be the hero, who will be?” and with that, he jumped in his lion, flying to the rescue of Arus.

“Ugh, why did I promise Lance I’d always stick by his side, no matter what?” Hunk groaned, climbing in his lion and flying to Blue’s aid. Keith said nothing, only shrugged and jumped in his lion. Pidge followed suit, and the four of them were off.

And defeating a fleet of Galran ships would be no easy task either, at least, it wasn’t proving to be. Lance wondered if he still would have complained about homework so much had he known how difficult this was. Probably.

And about how earlier the Galran fire power was tenfold the blue lion’s? Yeah, that was still a cakewalk compared to this. A blast was sent his way, sending his lion flying backwards. He just had to do this for a few minutes, he reminded himself as he gritted his teeth. 

Lance launched a blast at some ships, and true, he took out a few on his own in the blue lion, but for every ten ships Lance barely managed to destroy without using his entire arsenal, hundreds more appeared. It was beginning to look hopeless, when Shiro came to the rescue like a ship in the night. Only it was day. But the ship part was true.

“Alright team, are you ready to form Voltron and take down this fleet?” Shiro asked in the most enthusiastic voice he could muster.

“YEAH!” The team shouted in unison. And whatever form of witchcraft that cheerleader level chanting held, it seemed to be working, as the five lions seemed to be snapping into place like legos. Everything felt huge as the metal combined into Voltron, even huger than the giant alien cat head cockpit the five were barely getting used to.

The team sprung to action. And man alive, this combining powers thing was definitely something Lance could get used to. For every blast the Galra sent their way, they sent a blast back worth fifty times that strength. 

Finally, the Galra fleet, or what was left of it, retreated to whatever hellhole it came from. Relief washed over the entire team as they gently landed.

“Great! Good work, team!” Shiro congratulated everyone, “Quick question though, how do we get this thing apart?”

* * *

When the team finally separated and got their lions into their respective hangars, the team was too tired to leave the hangar or even take off their armor before relaxing.

“I am so beat. I think if I don’t go to bed right now, my bones will physically melt into Jell-O,” Hunk sighed.

“I congratulate you all for your victory and your resilience against the Galra,” Allura grinned, “I must say that I am proud of you all.”

“Can you be proud of us tomorrow?” Keith yawned.

“Absolutely,” Allura nodded. But just as the paladins were ready to head back to their living quarters for the power nap of the century--

“Wait!” Lance called. Everyone turned to face him. He held up a small, handheld alien camera, grinning all the way, “Group photo.”

“You want to take a group photo now?” Pidge whined, “Can’t we wait until we’re all well rested and can properly digest what the hell happened today?”

“Come on, guys, one group photo. That’s it. Then, we can all go to bed,” Lance assured him.

“What’s the harm in humoring him?” Allura grinned, “Alright paladins, group photo at Sir Lance’s request!”

There were a few groans of protest, but the other six finally agreed to participate, stepping towards Lance. Lance, grinned, scrambling to find a place to hang the ancient camera. He finally talked Blue into lowering her head enough to get a good angle, holding the device in her teeth. 

The seven of them posed together, mustering great smiles for people who felt like they died last week.

“Everybody say defenders of the universe!” Lance commanded.

“Defenders of the universe,” everybody responded monotonously. Blue took the photo, and it spit out right away. Lance picked up the photo and grinned at it widely.

“Okay, that’s it, I’m not sittin’ here watching Lance make goo goo eyes at a photo for another hour while I miss valuable sleep time,” Hunk announced, heading for the living quarters. Everyone else, including Lance, took this as an invitation to follow closely after. 

When Lance reached his room, he wanted to collapse immediately on his bed and die there. However, there was still one more thing he had to do before he called it quits. Lance searched the dresser drawers like a man leaving for Chicago in twelve minutes and all he’s packed so far is a copy of the RENT soundtrack.

Finally, he found the alien equivalent to a pen and a glue stick. He messily labeled the photo with “defenders of the universe” before finally sticking it to the wall next to the last photo of the bunch in the collage, almost as if picking up where Blaytz left off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry Y'all had the busiest January of all time. But I hope 10,000 words was worth the wait! woohoo! also it's five am and i haven't slept but i had to get this chapter out so if that ain't dedication
> 
> Find my writing blog: cryptid-kogane.tumblr.com
> 
>  
> 
> How to trick me into writing fics faster: comment!


	3. The Blood of the Covenant

The team awoke to a most unpleasant sound, that is, the sound of alarms blaring and red lights flashing. This was a sort of thing that at least Hunk, Pidge and Lance were very used to, it being a similar method that the Garrison used to wake up their students back on Earth. In fact, for a brief moment, Pidge almost forgot that this whole endeavor had happened to begin with, and that they WEREN’T just back home. The illusion was shattered as soon as Allura began screaming into the intercom of course.

“Paladins! Please report to the control room fully suited!” For someone with such a calm voice, Allura sure as hell knew how to sound frantic and angry, “We are under attack!”

With that, Shiro sprung to action, followed semi closely by the rest of the paladins. Fortunately for them, the distress call was just a drill, demonstrated by the fact that the ship didn’t appear to be under attack at all. Unfortunately for the paladins though, Allura was extremely angry when they arrived to the control room and, truth be told, that was probably worse than a galran attack.

“This is unacceptable! Had this been a real attack, we could all be dead by now!” Allura scolded, “Not only that, but your leader is the only one in full armor, the rest of you in regular clothing. And where the quiznak is Lance?”

As if summoned by her command, Lance then showed up not in armor, not even in regular clothes,  but in his pajamas. By the looks of it he had managed to find a robe and some slippers that were adorably in the shape of little robotic lion heads. His hair and glasses seemed to be the only things in disarray.

“Lance, you’re not even CLOSE to dressed,” Allura scolded.

“Cut me some slack would you?” Lance grunted.

“Yeah, I mean, we’ve only known about voltron for like…..what day is it?” Hunk asked.

“What time has passed is little of my concern. Do you think Zarkon is going to wait around for us to get a grip? He’s probably planning another attack as we sit around here arguing,” Allura pointed out.

“The princess has a point,” Keith agreed, “I mean as it stands, we’re sitting ducks. We barely have any control of our lions, we still don’t know how to form voltron on command, not to mention-”

“Thank you, Keith,” Shiro cut him off, “very helpful.”

“Rome wasn’t built in a day….or…..altea wasn’t built in a day. Something like that. Blue says we can’t force a stronger bond, we have to nurture the bond, let it grow on its own. It helps to talk to your lion,” Lance pushed his glasses up. He thought it made him look more intelligent, though his sister always said it made him look like a dork.

“Yeah, easy for you to say,” Keith rolled his eyes.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Lance whipped around.

“Oh, come on. Your bond with your lion just comes so naturally to you, and then you look down on the rest of us for not being able to get through to our lions as easily,” Keith explained, crossing his arms.

“That is _ridiculous_ ,” Lance scoffed.

“Ridiculous…..and a little true. Sorry, Lance,” Pidge shrugged sheepishly.

“Come on guys, lay off,” Hunk commanded.

“Thank you, Hunk,” Lance grinned.

“The blue lion is the most nurturing and motherly of the lions, and it’s not Lance’s fault he’s a mama’s boy,” Hunk continued.

“What the hell, Hunk?” Lance sputtered.

“Okay okay, that’s enough, guys,” Shiro glared at the team.

“Anyway,” Allura said very very loudly, “today, since the five of you appear to need to adjust to life as paladins, we are going to have a full extensive training day. I hope the five of you will come out the other end stronger. Otherwise I’m afraid I will be severely, severely disappointed in you.”

“Uh, hi, excuse me your majesty but with all due respect, are you hearing yourself talk right now?” Hunk asked.

“What is it with humans and these rhetorical questions, I swear,” Allura gave a knowing look towards coran.

“We’re the only humans you’ve ever met,” Pidge pointed out.

“Yes, and you are making a lovely case for your species,” Allura looked like she was about to grind her sharp teeth right down to the gums. She regained her composure fairly quickly, however. “Right, as I was saying, a day of vigorous training awaits you. If you work hard, I believe you will perform splendidly.” She lied.

* * *

 

And so the hardest training that any of them had ever faced began. Training commenced immediately. It was working them to the bone, and they couldn’t seem to find traction as a team. One person would be good at one segment, the others would fall behind. And on it went. And sure it was grueling and worked them to the bone, but Allura wasn’t as mean as Iverson. That much Lance knew, so he kept complaints to himself.

There was one portion where the team would fly their lions downwards with their visors dark. Lance couldn’t resist an opportunity to turn it into a competition with Keith, egging him on until Keith was just as fired up as he was. They raced even faster to the ground, both lions scolding them as they did so. Unfortunately for them, neither of their lions managed to pull up on time, causing them to crash into the sand.

 _You knew that was a bad idea, right? Like, were you ignoring your voice of reason or do you just not have one?_ Red asked.

 _Lance_ , Blue said in that one tone of voice she had that made her not have to say anymore.

There was no gloating as the two dug themselves out of the sand. It was hard to tell who was digging faster, Keith with his natural aptitude for speed and Lance with his intense claustrophobia, but this time when Lance broke away to the surface barely before Keith did, there was no gloating there either. Lance knew that would lead to a long lecture from either Shiro or Blue.

The worst was not over, as now they had to dig the lions out. It took nearly an Earth hour, and when they were finished, the worst was yet to come.

“Okay, let’s fly back to the castle,” Keith huffed. Red kept her mouth clamped shut.

Red, do you think they deserve the luxury of being flown back to the castle? Blue asked.

No, I don’t think they do. Red answered.

We’re walking, they both telepathically said, as Lance could not hear Red and Keith could not hear Blue.

“We have to walk?” Lance shrieked.   
“Frickin great,” Keith mumbled, starting the walk.

One thing was certain, and that was that they would each silently vow to never crash their lions again.

* * *

 

The paladins grumpily ate their dinner in silence as Allura sat with them, seething. As an extra measure of annoyance, their hands were bound with their neighbors, forcing them to feed the person next to them. It was the most frustrating and humiliating part of the day thus far, and after a large glob of food goop wound up in Keith’s hair, he had had enough. Keith stood up in his chair, effectively yanking Pidge and Lance’s arms up.

“That is it! You have been training us all day, working us to the bone, and now we can’t even eat normally?” Keith demanded.

“That is not how you refer to the princess, Keith,” Coran stepped in.

“He has a point though!” Lance interjected, “We’re not prisoners.”

“Thank you, Lance,” Keith nodded towards him.

“Besides,” Pidge chimed in, “that crown has seeped in through your skull. You’ve gone drunk with power!”

That was too much for Allura, it seemed, as she shot a big fat glob of food goo at Pidge’s face. Allura’s expression shifted from frustration to sort of a smirk.

The rest of the team looked at them in shock, unsure what to do. That is, until Keith grabbed a plate.

“Go loose Pidge!” He shouted, launching the plate at Allura

This sparked a flat out food war. The disgusting goo was a blur as it flew in small portions across the room. Pidge and Lance couldn’t see shit because food goo was all over their glasses, and EVERYONE was using Shiro as a human shield.

The entire team was laughing, including Keith. That made Lance fuzzy all over. He couldn’t help it. He loved to hear people laugh, even if the person in question was his worst enemy. This food fight….was the first thing to make him feel normal. Like all this space stuff was only a dream. He wasn’t on another planet, he was just cutting loose with his friends. And after the week Lance had been having, that was a welcome change.

“You’re finally bonding as a team!” Allura clapped her hands together. And back to reality, though Lance could admit that it he did think it was adorable how giddy Allura looked. Her facial marks were bright pink, “I’m so very proud of you all! I knew if you could find a common enemy, you’d be friends in no time!”

“Making yourself the enemy, are you sure that’s the best strategy to build a good team for you to lead?” Hunk asked.

“It worked, didn’t it?” Allura smiled.

“Touche,” Hunk laughed.

And so the team went and this time formed voltron with much greater ease and no threat to speak of, a feat that seemed impossible a few vargas ago. The whole team was the most excited they’d ever been together. Keith even smiled at Lance a few times, and vice versa. Lance remembered the feeling of normal and how good it was after feeling so alien, and he made a mental note to try and recreate that feeling as much as he could.

* * *

 

The next morning, Lance woke up earlier than anyone else. He had managed to find a suitable outfit for the activity: something adjacent to a pair of shorts and a tank top. At least, he managed to craft it. Hey, it _was_ his robe, he should be able to do as he pleases with it. Lance stood outside the door of the castle, sun barely rising over the hills, painting pink and orange tones in the sky. It wasn’t quite the same as the sun back home, but it would do. He counted to three then took off like a bullet.

He always did like to run. Feeling faster than anything else in the world, the wind hitting his face so quickly. He could take on the world if his heart beat so fast all the time. The colors of Arus bled together into a blur and Lance laughed louder than he had in a long time. He could almost pretend he was back home with his family, racing his siblings for the biggest sugar cookie for dessert.

Despite being the youngest, he was always the best runner, and it always showed. They’d race from the far end of the property to the windowsill of the kitchen, roughly 2 acres, and when Lance reached it he’d laugh like he’d just made the biggest accomplishment of his life.

“My little guepardo,” his momma would call him, offering the biggest cookie.

“Show off,” his siblings liked to call him. And his mom would swat at them with the kitchen rag, but it was true.

And so Lance ran like he was racing across the backyard, and God, he could almost taste the sugar cookie at the windowsill. It was about 6 kilometers before he realized he had no destination, and he halted himself, falling to his knees. His heart was like a jackhammer, and he allowed himself a minute or two of heavy breathing before he took off in the other direction.

Now that he actually had a destination, he ran even faster. His limbs felt lighter than air. When he saw the castle in the distance, it felt like he was taking flight. Lance grinned, the air drying his teeth. He wondered what the fastest animal on Altea was.

When he reached the castle, he let himself rest as the sun hung higher in the sky than when he had started. His legs were vibrating, and he knew he’d be able to feel them turn to jello when the team started training. He didn’t have a watch, not that a watch would have helped much anyway, but he knew it was still early because the sun was so low in the sky. And there was something about watching the sunrise after running so fast that stopping made him feel like he was Superman post kryptonite.

So Lance hugged his knees, leaning against the cool bricks of the castle wall and feeling his eyelids get heavier until he slept there.

When he woke back up, the sun was high in the sky and he could hear the lions stirring within their hangars, so he rushed inside to the control room.

“Where have you been?” Keith asked, and Lance shrugged, which further confused Lance but he left it be. His limbs ached but he still grinned like he had slept with a hanger in his mouth.

He made this an everyday habit.

* * *

 

It helped to have Hunk in space. His best friend. A familial stand in. They were like brothers, and it showed in little habits and ticks that often went unnoticed by the rest of the team, but when they did notice it seemed odd to them. They could communicate only in looks, and they checked in to make sure the other one was okay at least a million times a day.

That was comforting. The two had known each other since even before orientation at the Garrison. It helped to at least be with someone who he knew well back on Earth. It was grounding, an anchor to normality. An anchor to home. If he’d been with only strangers in space or, hell, even the entire current team but not Hunk, Lance might not have survived more than a week.

There’s just something about the support of a best friend that makes your heart heal in places you thought it would ache forever.

Lance remembered conversations with Hunk in the Garrison about how much they had in common, both being from big families and having big hearts and not knowing how to operate by themselves. Lance always said how much his older siblings would ADORE Hunk and Hunk said the same thing about his moms and younger siblings. Especially his baby sister Alea. They made a promise to visit each other’s family homes after graduation, and it made Lance’s heart absolutely ache that he now didn’t know if that was possible.

He couldn’t remember if Hunk had gotten up in time to see Lance going outside to run and just followed him, or if Lance had silently invited him. All he knew was that Hunk started going with, and that became as much as his routine as any other part, Hunk sitting in front of the castle and Lance cheering him on. It was just something that made it feel even more like home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is short compared to the last one and a little bit slow. It's mostly groundwork for the rest of this part of the series, as part one is very Lance focused. (dw everyone gets their own arc too, Lance just goes through the biggest emotional journey in the first part)  
> Anywho the updates will get more frequent from here, but I'm having a lot of trouble coming up with an update schedule (bulk releases, an entire part at once every 2-3 weeks) or one by one (one chapter a week) and i would appreciate audience imput immensely, so here's a form if you would like to input your suggestion!  
> https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd7k_zzHLnANxA8G8oJx3I4nsIyGcBJ4cU9ND3yB-snQAb2ZQ/viewform?usp=sf_link  
> here is my writing tumblr if you want frequent writing updates  
> https://cryptid-kogane.tumblr.com/  
> Here is my art tumblr  
> https://sunsofsaturn.tumblr.com/  
> as always, comments and kudos are heavily appreciated!  
> Hope you enjoyed!


	4. If Memory Serves

Chapter Four: If Memory Serves

Shiro awoke in a cold sweat, his heart pounding like a jackhammer. He could only remember parts of the dream, tiny fragments, but that was really all he needed to remember. He knew what the dream was about, and he sort of counted not knowing who it was this time as a blessing. 

He heard Allura’s voice over the intercom, calling him for breakfast. He groaned, even though he knew he wasn’t going to be able to go back to sleep anyway. Shiro trudged over to his closet, flinching when he saw the scars in the full length mirror. He pulled on his clothes and put on a semi bright face, as to not worry the other paladins. Especially Lance and Keith. 

Keith was always worried about Shiro one way or another, and over the past couple of weeks, Lance tended to follow Shiro around. Shiro didn’t think he meant anything by it, he didn’t even think Lance  _ knew _ that he did it. Nevertheless, Shiro annoyed easily, as much as he tried to argue otherwise. 

A late alarm ran for breakfast, and Shiro resisted the irrational impulse to yell at said alarm. That was something that made Shiro consistently tense. All the alarms. There was one for every meal, one for mandatory training, one for when the galra were attacking, and Shiro couldn’t seem to tell the difference between each of them, no matter how hard he tried. 

He finally headed towards the dining hall, and he couldn’t tell if all the sudden talking was comforting or furtherly tensing.

“I’m just saying, that if he really wanted to prove his theory, he would not have hesitated to send a second crew to the planet,” Pidge stirred her food goo with a fork.

“Do you know how much that would have cost to send an entire second crew to space? That is funding that he did not have, nor could he could get,” Lance scoffed.

“Or maybe his theory  _ was _ right, it was just that whatever they saw up there was so terrifying that they decided not to risk a second trip,” Hunk chimed in.

“Well, I mean, they should have had time to at least snap a few pictures of the fauna. This man wrote seventeen award winning essays, and he couldn’t bring a camera up here? Come on!” Pidge continued.

“We don’t know if cameras can even survive in space. Like, air pressure, lack thereof and all that,” Lance pointed out.

“Lance?” Pidge didn’t say another word, she just lifted Lance’s camera up in front of him and raised an eyebrow.

“I meant Earth cameras,” Lance retorted, taking the camera, “aliens have apparently been traveling through space for centuries, trading ideas and inventing together. Space cameras are an outlier.”

“Do you have any idea what they’re talking about?” Shiro asked, sliding into the seat next to Keith.

“Not a clue, and to be honest, the fact that we went to the same school and I am completely lost in this conversation is more than just slightly concerning,” Keith answered.

“You did get kicked out,” Shiro pointed out.

“Void,” Keith glared. 

“Right, sorry,” Shiro rubbed the back of his neck. He stayed silent for a while.

“Are you okay?” Keith asked.

“Yeah...Yeah,” Shiro forced a small smile. 

“Are you sure? Because you seem like you-” 

“Void,” Shiro cut him off.

“But-” Keith tried to interject. 

“ _ Void _ ,” Shiro said, firmer this time. Keith slumped back in his chair and mumbled something under his breath. Shiro tuned back into the conversation between Lance, Pidge and Hunk, who didn’t even stop for long enough to notice Keith and Shiro’s small quarrel.

“It doesn’t matter what you THINK happened to the evidence. The proof is in the pudding and all the pudding’s been eaten,” Pidge continued.

“Look at what we do have, though, this man has been through hell and back. Do we really want to send someone to space at the risk of compromising their mental health?” Lance drummed his fingers on the table.

“Send someone on his behalf then,” Pidge shrugged. 

“Someone who is potentially unprepared for the horrors of what he saw?” Hunk mumbled.

“What are you guys talking about?” Keith finally asked.

“The Kelsey Chronicles,” Pidge answered plainly.

“The what?” Shiro asked.

“It’s an adventure book series,” Lance chimed in, “about an astronaut who wants to prove his theory about what is basically a fictionalized version of the bermuda triangle.”

“It centers around his three children,” Hunk continued, “it shifts points of view from book to book. But the catch is that he actually has four kids, the oldest of which was on a mission with him that set out to find out what happens to the crews that disappear in the Lagoon Orion.”

“But then everything goes wrong when SOMETHING happens to the astronaut’s, Leonard Kelsey’s, crew. The entire crew goes missing, including his oldest child, London. When Leonard returns to Earth, he’s sworn to secrecy of what happened due to risk of controversy (though he does insist to the press that what happened proved his theory), so it’s up to his other three kids to find out what happened and eventually save London,” Pidge explained.

“There’s only three books out so far, so my theory is that the next book is from London’s point of view, which Pidge seems adamantly against,” Lance glared across the table at her.

“There’s going to be six books. That’s a multiple of three, so clearly it’s going to continue the current pattern. The next book should take place from Brick’s perspective, just like the first book,” Pidge argued.

“Haha, okay,” Shiro laughed, then quickly gave Keith his “what the fuck is going on” look. Keith only shrugged. 

“You guys do realize though that we’re probably not going to get to actually find out for like, at least a while, right? Space war and stuff?” Hunk asked.

“Really I’m trying not to think about it,” Lance looked down at his food goo and sighed. Maybe the Kelsey Chronicles weren’t the only thing he was trying not to think about.

“Okay okay okay, so new theory,” Hunk changed the subject quickly, “What if Leonard is a shapeshifter passing himself off as Dr. Kelsey. I mean pre Project Orion Zero Dr. Kelsey would always tell his kids the truth, even at risk of arrest, especially concerning London’s or any of the kids’ safety.”

“Okay, captain edgelord,” Pidge scoffed.

“Well, on that note,” Shiro stood up, “I think I’m going to get to the training deck. Anyone wanna spar with me?”

Lance whipped his head around like a dog who heard someone drop a slice of bacon on the floor, but Pidge quickly sucked him back into conversation about the book series. Shiro waved them off and headed to the aforementioned training deck. 

* * *

 

After a nice, long training session, Shiro was just about to head to his room to rest a little. Unfortunately for him, he heard the siren. His shoulders tensed and he breathed a little harder, trying to remember which siren it was. He attempted to breathe slowly. This siren was less sharp than the danger alarm, and slightly quieter than the breakfast alarm. But it had one blast on a loop instead of the three that signified mandatory training....so.  
Report to the control room, it had to mean. He sighed, breath still forced and heart still slightly offbeat. He stopped by his hangar to suit up just in case, then focused on getting to the control room.  
When he arrived, he was glad to see  Coran cease the alarm immediately. He counted the teenagers in his periphery. Allura was there, so were Lance and Keith. Hunk and Pidge however were  missing from his field of view.   
"Where are-" He started.  
"They are on a mission, headed to a Galran ship that holds prisoners," Allura answered, as if reading his mind.   
"They're on a mission? without me?" And it wasn't that Shiro was mad, just surprised.  
"They've been on missions plenty of times without you," Lance pointed out.  
"They do?" Shiro scratched the back of his neck in confusion.   
"Never mind," Keith huffed, "I just wanna know why you called us to the control room, Princess?"  
"Yes, well," Allura cleared her throat, "Lance seems to have discovered life on this planet. We seem not to be alone after all."  
"A small commune  is located just East of the castle," Coran continued.  
"Yeah, while I was on a run. I looked over and there was this tiny little guy, brandishing a knife, headed right towards me. Scared the hell out of me," Lance explained, "I ran back into the castle to tell everyone, and, well, here we are."  
"We've decided to wait until Hunk and Pidge get back from their mission  to deliberate what to do," Allura said.  
"Then why have you called us here now?" Shiro raised an eyebrow.  
"Well, Shiro, the two paladins seem to be returning to the atmosphere now!" Coran said cheerfully.  
And he was right, in the distance, you could see tow dots. One yellow and one Green. It didn's take a rocket scientist to determine who was on their way. The paladins and the two Alteans headed outside the castle to wait for their return.   
When the two lions landed, Hunk and Pidge exited their lions quickly. However, they were not alone. A trail of various aliens followed them cautiously, all dressed in purple rags. Shiro felt a twinge at the back of his mind. He remembered those rags to be the same ones that he was forced to wear as a Galra prisoner.   
"Welcome to the castle!" Allura attempted to sound cheerful and diplomatic, "Please, allow us to show you inside the castle." She extended a hand, to motion them to follow her, but they did the opposite, stumbling backwards and away from the princess.  
"It's okay," Hunk said softly, "this is Princess Allura. She is very kind. She is not going to hurt you."  
"Our apologies, majesty," one of the prisoners, a tall one with blue skin, was the first to speak, "we are only frightened because we have not known true kindness in a long while. We are trained to flinch away from it, for it could be a trap,"  
"I understand," Allura nodded quickly, "please allow me to do everything I can to help. A home cooked meal, clean, dry clothes, and a warm place to sleep await all of you."  
The blue alien turned to look for approval of the other freed prisoners. Cautiously, they all nodded one by one.   
"We would like nothing more than that. Thank you. Your kindness is welcome after a lifetime of hardships," The blue alien answered.  
"Good, then," Allura beamed, and motioned again for the aliens to follow her. They moved slowly, but they did move. The paladins hung back for a bit so that they could make sure all of the aliens got inside safely.   
"Come on, Rover!" Pidge called back to her lion when they had all entered the castle.   
"What is a Rover?" Lance asked. And as if summoned by his very question, a small, pyramidal robot with a glowing blue scanner at the center flew towards Pidge.   
"That is a Rover," Hunk pointed.  
"He was a Galran robot, but I managed to hack into his mainframe and get rid of his need to serve the Galra," Pidge explained.  
"What can't this kid do," Lance chuckled, heading inside the castle.   
"Not much," Pidge answered smugly, though she knew Lance was out of earshot.   
The first stop was, of course, the dining hall for food, as previously mentioned. As such, the paladins got back into their normal clothes. Another glance in the mirror that made Shiro's memory of his nightmare become just a little clearer. He bit down on his tongue so hard he could taste copper. Remembering was not something he particularly liked to do.   
Shiro passed by Lance, slouching with his hands in his pockets even as he walked, smirk ever present on his face.   
"Hey, Shiro!" Lance beamed, giving him a small wave. Shiro sheepishly smiled and waved back. The kid clearly idolized him, which Shiro was not so sure how he felt about. He felt he should be flattered, but being on a pedestal leaves a lot of room to fall, and he certainly didn't want Lance to have him be a bad influence.   
He supposed the blue paladin meant no harm, thinking Shiro was so cool and all, so he was as nice as he possibly could be. Even though today in particular had a weird, unsettling quality to it that did not put Shiro in the best of moods. It felt like his past was sneaking up on him, making him confront his demons. And if he knew what was to happen next, he would know this to be true. 

* * *

 

The paladins arrived to the dining hall, plates all around the table instead of just being on one side. Aliens sat all around the table, leaving just enough spaces between for the paladins to sit. There was an alien where Keith usually sat next to Lance, as well as ones in Shiro and Hunk's usual seats. Shiro headed to a spot on the end of the table, when the aliens froze at the sight of him. Shiro, in turn, looked slightly afraid.  
"It's you," a yellow alien gasped, "the champion!"  
"The champion?" Shiro repeated,  brow furrowing. saying the word himself invited an image in his brain, a crowd cheering him on, bright flashing lights in his face. His chest squeezed, his head pounded, and he managed to bring himself back to reality.  
"I knew this was too good to be true," a pink alien  was practically hyperventilating.   
"Now, now," the blue alien calmly tapped the pink alien's shoulder, "we were all forced to fight. The champion did not have any more a choice than we did."  
"What are you all talking about?" Shiro's gut twisted, afraid of the answer.  
"Do you........not remember?" the blue alien asked in a hushed tone.  
"No, and something tells me I'm glad that I don't," Shiro stepped back.   
"Shiro doesn't remember anything from when he was a Galran prisoner," Hunk explained, "it gives him migraines just to think about it. We've tried."  
The aliens stayed silent, not looking at Shiro. Finally, the blue alien explained, as best as he could anyway.   
"The galaxy lives under a powerful Empire., as I'm sure you know. This Empire has many laws. Some easy to break, some not as such. Many prisoners are just kept on a planet in the eighth quadrant called the Citadel. The entire planet is a fortress. Others. Worse offenders. People who seek out to liberate the galaxy, these are the people that Zarkon decides the fate of himself. If he has mercy, he will simply send the prisoner to death."  
"The death penalty is merciful?" Hunk gulped.  
"Yes," The blue alien nodded solemnly, "I'm afraid that when a prisoner sent to Zarkon is only killed, the prisoner in question looks to it as a gift from the Gods. The ones he is not so merciful to, however......" he trailed off.   
"If this is too painful to talk about-" Shiro chimed in.  
"No ,I must tell you what you are up against." The blue alien insisted, "now the ones they are not so merciful towards...they are sent to a fate much worse than death. Worse than the citadel. Worse than anything. The ones that are proven to conspire against the emperor. They are sent to be prisoners not only of the emperor, but to their own body's limitations as well."  
"What do you mean?" Allura was digging her nails so far into her skin, she could draw blood.  
"We are forced to fight. To the death, if necessary. We are pit against each other in front of a screaming crowd of heathens, betting on us like racing animals. The match lasts for a Varga.Sometimes as little as a Deca-Phoeb. The first to pin the other down for seven ticks is the victor. But it is more than a leisure wrestling match. The competitors are rabid, out for blood. Desperate. For the reward for winning a match is food, a luxury in our messed up reality. And the delay of death. Those who lose matches  most often die of blood loss or infection by the next Quintent. Those who do not, however, are sent to Zarkon's witch, to be turned into monsters."  
"It's a wonder that we have survived this long," A pink alien laughed bitterly, "Some of us have been fighting for longer. I have only won five matches. The ones I managed to pin did not die. Gods rest their souls at the knowledge that whatever the witch has done with them will plague my soul forever."  
"You, champion, were the longest to survive out of all of us. The first earthling to win over one hundred matches in a row," The blue alien explained, "we were all so afraid of you, for our lives, that we prayed that we would not wind up on the roster opposite of you. You were so rabid, even before your first match, faced against a challenging enemy."  
"I was....rabid?" Shiro felt ashamed of himself. Flashes in his mind of blood on his hands, of his ever frequent nightmares. He leaned against the wall as not to fall.  
"Oh, yes," The blue alien nodded, "your first match, another earthling was meant to go first."  
"Another Earthling?" Pidge's ears perked up.  
"One with pale skin and shaggy hair. He looked so frightened and afraid to die. And you attacked him, yelling something about how this was YOUR match. The guards complied, and took him away. I never saw that Earthling again, but I would see you many times," The blue alien nodded.  
"Matt?" Shiro was just about ready to throw up.   
"Matt?" Pidge echoed, with more fury in her voice. Well, as much anger as her small, frail voice could stand to carry.  
"Matt Holt? He was on the Kerberos roster too!" Lance shouted in disbelief.   
"Must be," Pidge gripped the table, "another earthling that fits the description of him? There's no other possibility!"   
"Whoa, Pidge, why are you getting so hostile?" Hunk asked.  
"He attacks his only ally in space and gets him dragged off to who knows where and I'm being hostile?" Pidge demanded.  
"Pidge, I don't even remember what happened. There must be some kind of mistake-" He thought, he hoped.  
"Mistake my ass. The aliens saw. We have witnesses." Pidge pointed out. She let go of her tight grip on the table, "I'm heading off to the library. Nobody go in there, especially not Shiro." With that, she stormed off.  
"Sheesh, what's his problem?" Lance asked.   
"He probably just hit a nerve," Hunk shrugged, "you know how he is about the Kerberos mission."   
The remaining diners ate in complete and total silence, save for the occasional scrape of a fork against a plate.

* * *

 

The princess led the aliens to the very large wardrobe. This castle had absolutely no shortage of rooms that were huge eough that they would make the lions feel small. They seemed to be organized by theme, formal clothes taking up the largest part. Allura led them specifically to the sleepwear, knowing how tired her new passengers must be. 

The sleepwear ranged from just a plain old timey looking one piece bathing suit type deal to gowns and robes with slippers. Lance made a mental note to replace the robe he'd torn to shreds. 

A yellow alien stepped from behind a dressing screen in the aforementioned one piece outfit, sheepish look on his face. Allura readied herself to lead the first to get dressed to his room, when-

"What is that?" Allura asked, knowing the exact answer as she pointed to a very large gash surrounded by decent sized teeth marks. It was down to the bone, scabbing into a large black wound on the side of his arm.

"A souvenir of a fight, I'm afraid," the alien looked at it as if for the first time.

"That looks painful....and recent," Allura pointed out.

"Recent, yes, but I can barely feel the sting anymore. I assure you, princess, I am fine," the yellow alien insisted.

"Nonsense!" Allura argued, "I insist that I lead you to the healing pods for proper care." 

"Healing pods?" The blue alien asked.

"Pretty much exactly what they sound like," Hunk chimed in. 

"If anyone else has been injured, I suggest you do the same," Allura continued.

She left, most of the alien guests following her. Some dressed in nightwear, others still in the rags. 

"So," Lance cleared his throat, "I'm gonna go check on Pidge."

"Didn't he say he wanted to be alone?" Hunk asked.

"Yeah, well," Lance shrugged, "it has been a while. We can't just leave him alone for all eternity. And I suspect he would just stay in the library forever."

"Knowing Pidge, you're probably right," Hunk laughed. Lance nodded and peaced out, Shiro instead decided to stay with Coran in the room with the prisoners, which was uncomfortable to say the least.

Luckily though, he was not alone with them for long before Allura called them to the control room yet again. 

“While our guests rest and rehabilitate, I think it’s time that we assess the other situation at hand,” Allura spoke as loudly and clearly as she could manage, “paladins, it is time to decide what to do about our neighbors.”

Gesturing to the screen, she opened the video surveillance outside the castle, showing a small, light yellow alien brandishing a knife.

“I say that we go out there armed,” Keith suggested.

“Are you saying that we should go out there and attack this squishy adorable little guy?” Lance narrowed his eyes at the red paladin.

“You were running away screaming from this squishy adorable little guy just this morning,” Keith pointed out.

“Don’t make me come over there and fight you, mullet,” Lance pointed threateningly.

“You expect me to be afraid of you when you run away from harmless little aliens?” Keith raised an eyebrow.

“A harmless little alien that you want to  _ stab _ ,” Lance retorted.

“Whatever, Jackass,” Keith rolled his eyes.

“Mullet!”

“Fucker!”

“Hothead!”

“Trigger Happy!”

“Sword..Sword Happy!”

“Someone please stop them before they run out of insults and just start shouting terms of endearment at each other,” Pidge groaned, “I couldn’t take that, I really couldn’t.”

“Tough guy!” 

“Pretty boy!”

“.....Too late,” Hunk chimed in.

“Boys, that’s enough,” Shiro said in a warning tone. 

“Focus, please,” Allura rubbed her temples, “why don’t we give someone else a chance to come up with a plan?”

“I think we should be friendly. We shouldn’t go out of our way to make enemies while word is spreading about the return of Voltron,” Shiro pointed out.

“True, definitely true,” Allura bit her nails, “alright. Everyone suit up. Our first approach is hospitality, not hostility.”

* * *

When they got outside, Allura was of course the first to introduce herself to the small, yellow alien. She was indeed small and squishy, but he was brandishing a knife still.

“Greetings!” Allura grinned, “I am princess Allura, and I-”

“Oh my goodness, a princess?” The alien immediately sheathed her weapon, “Please forgive me. This castle has been dormant for over ten millenia, according to my ancestors. Only in the past couple Phoebs have we noticed activity.”

“Yes, well, ten millenia was how long I was asleep for. I suppose there was no one to keep the castle lively with the entire royal staff gone,” Allura explained. 

“And then……..this morning……..there were two robotic lions. I know it is foolish to ask, but,” the alien looked away, “could it be the same lions from the legends?”

“Legends?” Allura asked.

“If you wish, I ask you to accompany me back to my village. The elders will explain everything to you,” The alien requested. Allura looked back towards the paladins and Coran. Coran nodded slowly.

“We accept your offer, thank you for your hospitality,” Allura smiled. The team then trudged the three kilometers to the village, filled with small squishy aliens just like the one they had just met. The aliens stared at them as if they were the true aliens, bizarre in appearance and it occurred to each of the humans very violently and suddenly that they  _ were _ the aliens here. 

Their small alien friend sent others to go retrieve the elders and the paladins stood in silence. It was made clear to them that it was rude in their culture to introduce yourself to a civilian before introducing yourself to the elders. So they waited.

Finally, a band of five of these aliens, wrinklier than the rest, approached. 

“Greetings,” One of them spoke. His accent was thick and muddled, like he was trying to speak with molasses in his mouth, “We are the Arusians, and we welcome you to our village. I am K’ell.” 

“Greetings, I am Princess Allura of Altea,” Allura grinned.

“Altea?” One of the other elders asked, accent thin and wispy like a shiver down one’s spine, “I have only heard of that planet in children’s storybooks. Among all my research I never possibly thought it was real.”

“Lavine, please, there will be plenty of time for explanations after we introduce ourselves properly,” K’ell chimed in. 

“My apologies. Continue,” Lavine whispered sheepishly. The rest of the paladins and elders quickly introduced themselves. Then, onto more pressing matters.

“Now then, you are from the legendary planet of Altea?” Lavine asked.

“I still do not understand why you keep referring to my home planet as legendary,” Allura furrowed her brow.

“It is a child’s tale. A myth. A planet made up for the legend of Voltron,” Another elder spoke, voice gruff and almost indiscernible.

“But…..the lions…..the castle,” the Arusian that led them to the village protested.

“There have been many imitation lions. You know this. Formed with simple metal instead of the ridiculous magic crystals the legends spoke of,” The gruff elder waved her off. 

“If I may interrupt,” Allura chimed in, K’ell nodded, so she continued, “it is my understanding that Voltron has become somewhat of a legend?”

“Yes,” K’ell answered. 

“But I can assure you, Voltron is very real. These are the paladins,” Allura insisted.

“We will believe it when we see it,” the gruff one huffed.

“Not to be rude but we have formed. Like, a bunch of times. Right in front of the castle. Kind of hard to miss,” Hunk pointed out.

“Why would you say not to be rude and then immediately say something rude?” The gruff one demanded. 

“We are afraid that as long as you don’t have proof, we are forced to assume that you are not telling the truth, and therefore cannot meet the king,” the warrior explained.

“Thank you, Klaizap,” K’ell smiled, “yes, I am afraid this is true.”

“Who said we need to prove ourselves to you, anyway,” Keith mumbled.

“Keith!” Allura and Shiro scolded him.

“These so called paladins are very rude,” the gruff one noted.

“It was a simple question,” Keith shrugged.

“Nevertheless,” K’ell waved a hand, “we welcome you, neighbors.”

“Thank you,” Allura gave a small smile.

The princess was glad that their neighbors were friendly. However, she did want to meet the king, opening an opportunity to learn more about the “myth” of Voltron as someone who was actually there when it happened ten thousand years ago. How the story had changed and shaped itself through retellings. 

As the paladins chatted with the civilians, Pidge made it a point to get as far away from Shiro as she possibly could. Shiro followed as close as he could. She knew he was doing this, and she was not happy about it.

Pidge found herself in a stranded Galran ship not far from the village, hoping to find intel as where two certain human prisoners were located in the galaxy. She was just about to activate one of the computers when Shiro finally decided to reveal himself. 

“Pidge,” He greeted, apologetic tone.

“What are you doing here?” Pidge scoffed, not taking her eyes off the tangled mess of wires before her.

“I came here to apologise. And….to offer my help. If you want it,” Shiro sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. 

“I don’t need your help,” Pidge grunted.

“Okay, well, just the apology then?” Shiro asked. Pidge just glared, “I don’t know why you’re so defensive about Matt. Maybe you read his interviews with newsletters and saw yourself in him. Maybe you’re just worried that I’m gonna go rabid on you.”

“Well….” Pidge started to say something, but she furrowed her brow again and turned away.

“You do remind me a lot of him, if it’s the former. You both have the same admirable thirst for knowledge,” Shiro chuckled, “and I would never, ever hurt either one of you.”

“But you did hurt him!” Pidge protested.

“I know,” Shiro closed his eyes as tightly as they would go, “I know.”

The two of them stood in silence for a while, wires buzzing and cracking as Pidge attempted to make the damn thing work. 

“I don’t remember why I hurt him. I wish I could so I could give you an answer. If I ever see Matt again I will apologize as many times as my guilt will allow. But I will never ever hurt you, or the other paladins, or any other innocent civilian. Not now. Not ever again.”

Pidge stayed silent. She continued to try to rewire the computer, the wires sizzling and popping as her frustration increased. The electricity hit her fingers and she jumped back.

“Christ!” she cried out. She huffed in frustration, then softened her voice, “you can help. I mean…... if you still want to.”

“Sure thing,” Shiro gave a small smile and walked over to the computers.

* * *

 

It wasn’t long before an attack was struck on Arus. Not a fleet of Galra this time. No, a monster, presumably sent by Zarkon’s witch. A giant purple mecha mutant with a purple energy orb at its disposal. It was impossible to tell how much damage the orb could do, but the paladins were not going to sit around and just wait and see. The team met up in the center of the village, surrounded by screaming citizens.

“Princess, Coran, everyone else, get to safety and keep indoors. Paladins, get to your lions!” Shiro instructed. The paladins nodded and soon enough the five had formed Voltron. It was becoming clear that none of them were going to get used to the sensation of forming. 

When the mutant caught sight of them, it sent an orb their way. The orb was made of electricity, there was metal in voltron. You do the math. The paladins screamed. 

“That sound…..” Shiro grunted. He shook his head, “Pidge, fire lasers!” 

“On it!” Pidge got ready to fire, but the monster sent another orb their way. Voltron nearly fell over, stumbling backwards and barely catching itself.

“Lance, watch your footing!” Keith shouted.

“You watch your footing!” Lance retorted.

“I’m an arm, asshole!” 

“Guys!” Shiro shouted, “Pidge, lasers, now!”

“Yeah whatever,” Pidge grunted. But you’ll never guess what the monster fired at them before the lasers could properly charge.

“Augh! Every time we try to attack, the thing hits us with an orb!” Hunk groaned, “What are we gonna do?” 

“I think…..I think I fought this monster when I was,” Shiro’s head throbbed, “I know how to beat this thing.”

“Great! You gonna announce that plan or are you gonna wait around for this thing to fry us alive?” Lance asked.

“When the orb returns to the monster, there’s a loud whirring sound. Every third time, it needs to regain power. That’s when we have to attack it. It’s our only chance,” Shiro explained. 

“Okay, so what do we do until then?” Hunk asked.

“Defense. Pidge, sword, now!” Shiro shouted. The sword did protect them, but they could still feel the orb hitting, “Two left.”

“I don’t think we can take two more,” Hunk groaned.

“Orb!” Pidge shouted. Voltron stumbled backwards at the hit, but this time the yellow and blue lions stayed firmly planted.

“One….more,” Shiro huffed.

“We’re not gonna make it!” Keith grunted. 

“Orb!” Hunk responded. The paladins gritted their teeth as the final orb hit, taking almost everything out of them. As Shiro predicted, the orb went back to the base to charge.

“Now!” Shiro shouted. Pidge sent the lasers with everything they had, but it was a fruitless attack. The monster still stood. 

“It didn’t work, now what?” Lance shrieked.

“I had a sword last time I fought it,” Shiro grunted.

“That is really helpful,” Pidge scoffed.

“Orb!” Hunk shouted. The team seared with pain, taking a lot out of Voltron. Keith could barely keep his eyes open. A whirring sound came from his lion as some kind of sheath rose from the dashboard. 

_ Your bayard _ , the red lion instructed, though Keith could barely hear her over the other paladins,  _ Now _ , Red said louder.

“I think my lion’s trying to tell me to do something!” Keith announced.

“Whatever it is, do it!” Shiro shouted. 

Keith inserted his bayard with a scream, twisting it into place. As he did, a sword formed for Voltron as if from nothing.

“Woah!” Pidge said.

“Can all our lions do cool stuff like that with our bayards?” Hunk asked. 

“If they can, why does Keith get his first?” Lance huffed.

“Why are you always trying to undermine me?” Keith demanded.

“Why are you so perfect at everything is a better question!” Lance huffed.

“I’m not-”

“ORB!” Screaming ensued. They definitely, definitely could not take another blast like that. 

“Keith! Lance! I don’t know what the hell is going on here, but you two have been at each other’s throats since day one. Whatever drama you have, keep it to yourselves and call a damn truce!” Shiro lectured, “Now! We have to attack now or we won’t be able to make it!”

Voltron ran forward and swung the sword with all its might. The beast finally went down, a cloud of dust and a loud thud eclipsed the entire village. 

“We did it,” Shiro breathed, smiling. 

* * *

When the lions separated and the pilots went to see if the Arusians were all alright, Shiro had Pidge hang back at the base of the green lion.

“Hey, Pidge?” Shiro asked.

“Yeah?” Pidge sucked in a breath of air. 

“You know…..the mutant and how to defeat it…..that wasn’t the only memory that resurfaced,” Shiro said.

“Oh, yeah?” Pidge’s shoulders tensed. 

“I remembered why I attacked Matt. The first prisoner he was supposed to fight…….he never would have made it. He was freaking out about how he would never see his family again. So I went rabid, I insisted it was my fight, and then I told Matt to get to safety as fast as he could.”

“Really?” Pidge’s eyes widened.

“Really,” Shiro nodded.

“Then I guess it’s my turn to apologize to you,” Pidge chuckled. 

“No, no, you were just looking out for your………….fellow man,” Shiro smiled. And Pidge did not know what came over her, but she ran over and hugged Shiro tightly. 

“Thanks. For everything,” Pidge said quietly.

“Don’t worry about it…..Katie.” Pidge pulled back from the hug and looked at him in shock. 

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell,” Shiro smiled.

“Thanks,” Pidge smiled back. 

“Now let’s go join the others, before Keith and Lance get into another fight,” Shiro suggested.

“Probably a good idea,” Pidge laughed. 

* * *

 

“Paladins of Voltron! We have waited ten millenia for your return. It is an honor to meet you, and an honor to be saved by you,” The king of the Arusians said loudly, “now, as a thank you, we would like to throw a celebration and a feast for you.”

“Oh no, we couldn’t possibly take advantage of your hospitality like that,” Allura argued.

“We absolutely _ insist _ ,” The king pressed.

“Come on, Allura, it could be fun,” Lance prodded.

“Very well,” Allura sighed.

“Well,” Shiro chuckled, “after all that, we could use a party to destress.”

“Alright!” Lance said, high fiving Hunk, “Party time!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I'm getting a hang of the pacing.   
> New chapter out tomorrow or the day after!  
> This chapter was Shiro focused mostly, but I hope I didn't sideline the characters too much! that's honestly one of my biggest pet peeves.   
> My Writing Tumblr:  
> https://cryptid-kogane.tumblr.com/


	5. Calm Before the Storm

The paladins buzzed with anticipation, some positive, some not so positive as Allura and Coran led them back again towards the wardrobe. Before, it seemed smaller. Somehow. Look, they knew it didn't make any sense.

"It is probably about time I explain the proper royal attire on Altea," Allura beamed, "unless you all would rather greet the Arusians in your paladin armor, which is fine as well."

"No no, no no," Hunk protested, smiling nervously, "I think we all agree that the most appropriate outfit for the occasion would be best, right?"

He looked directly to Lance, who nodded vigorously. 

"Very well then," Allura smiled, going on to explain the various rules-what is traditional wear for royals and for villagers to fancy events, though Allura decided they were neither, and they really should just dress to their comfort level. Keith stood in the corner cautiously, almost hiding behind Shiro as she talked. 

When she finished talking about the fashion, the robes and tunics and the jewelry, she allowed the paladins to get dressed of their own accord.

 

The most excited by far was Lance. He wasn't exactly a master of fashion or anything, but he did like getting dressed up for fancy events. He  thumbed over some blue garments located near the second level (this circular room had four levels just for clothes, not even including shoes or the aforementioned jewelry) that were all various shades of blue. 

And okay, maybe it was a little bit of a cliche for the blue paladin's favorite color to be blue, but he couldn't help loving it. There were just so many nice shades, all of which made his brown eyes pop. That was a comment directly from one of his moms, a comment that when he was younger he absolutely detested, but now he would give almost anything to hear her call him handsome, and to hear the subsequent teasing from his siblings. 

He looked at the garments, some plain but most intricate, trying to decide which one fit the mood of the evening best. One particular set of garments were Cobalt blue, in a material comparable to Earth's satin, caught his eye like nothing he'd ever seen before. Cautiously, he took the garment off the wall and inspected it carefully, noticing the golden embroidery and beading at the hems. They almost....they almost looked like crashing waves. It was perfect. Lance only hoped it would fit alright…

 

The next to choose an outfit was Shiro, his taste in clothes certainly not as extravagant as this. He felt he should be afraid. He reached for different garments, hunting for something stretchy and comfortable. Based on these clothes and how Allura had described him, things like skirts were unisex and in fact, Shiro suspected that Allura and Coran would be absolutely horrified at the notion that on Earth most people believed that skirts were for women traditionally. Not anyone Shiro associated himself with, of course. Even still, a long skirt seemed............a little much. 

He, unlike Lance, was not one to dress to impress. He simply dressed as comfortably as he could, often dressing in turtlenecks and plain jeans. That covered a lot of bases. Evidently, alien celebrations were not one of them. Shiro sighed, hunting through fabrics until at last he found something with a long neck and fabric with somewhat of a give to it. It wasn't........well, it certainly wasn't plain.

The garment itself had a neck, and it was a nice color of violet, which Shiro liked, but the garment got iffier from the top down. The sleeves flared noticably at a point, creating puffs. the thing had shoulder pads. small, silvery ones with no tassles, but still. The item come with matching slacks. Well, maybe slacks wasn't the best word, but. The thing  had elbow pads and knee pads, all in a slightly darker color than the rest of the outfit. and....well, there was a cape. Shiro tried it on in a small room offset the rest of the wardrobe, and he could not lie, he felt sheepish in it, but it DID look nice. 

 

Keith was next, and though he had started at the same time as Lance and the others, he felt as if there was a lag. He was so used to wearing the same clothes that it almost felt like a betrayal of his every day attire to wear this. He navigated the large wardrobe by touch rather than sight, trying to find something that wouldn't make his skin crawl on contact. He was sure the princess would let him wear his usual outfit if he explained his reasons, but he was not one who enjoyed confrontation, so he felt his way around the wardrobe. Bad. Bad. Wrong. 

Finally, after what seemed like way too long after Lance and Shiro had already gotten  dressed, he found something that wasn't all that bad.In fact, it seemed fairly comfortable. Keith almost couldn't believe it. He pulled it off the wall, and his pleasant surprise faded noticeably in favor of disdain. It looked....ridiculous wasn't the right word. More like just. Off. Off for Keith. 

It was black. Well, grey, really, but that was mostly at the top. The lower your eyes went, the darker it got, with a black hood on the back adding a strange contrast. There were no sleeves. That made Keith uneasy. A long skirt and no sleeves. It wasn't like he had anything particularly against skirts, but he just wasn't the skirt type. He sighed and scolded himself into wearing it, reminded himself that he was really in no place whatsoever to stand there for any longer hunting for fabrics that were bearable. 

He kept the fingerless gloves. He afforded himself that luxury. 

 

Hunk wanted something that would not draw a lot of attention to himself. The less attention, the better. He hovered around the huge selection of yellow clothes, hunting for something less elaborate than what he'd caught Lance leaving in. He let out his little low hums. 

The Alteans seemed to be very into embroidery and the artistry of fashion. That he admired. What he had not admired was the idea of spending an evening in it. Yellow was already the brightest color, shouldn't the designers adjust accordingly to how the color looked on its own? Was he feeling eyes on him or was he imagining that. Hunk was a little alarmed at his own antics. Normally he was calm. It took a lot to engage his anxiety, though once it was engaged it was extremely hard to disengage,, so what was causing this?

The question fell in his mind to a halt as he found something nice to wear. a plain faded yellow tunic and greenish brownish legs. Though he hated parting with his normal outfit, it was nice to know Altean fashion had something to offer to him that wasn't all bells and whistles, at least not for tonight. The question didn't lay itself to rest for very long.

 

Allura looked down at her own clothes. Then back at the clothes the wardrobe offered. She didn't have to look at her cheeks to know that her marks were a soft, sullen hue of blue. Lately she'd been seen only in casual attire. A plain white blouse and a blue skirt down to the knees with a matching blue vest with puffed sleeves. It was not wear fit for a princess, but it worked well enough. The last time she had been in formal wear.....

It was supposed to be a celebration. Then the  Galra struck. And everything changed. Needless to say that playing dressup sent a sour feeling to her stomach. Her hands shook as she attempted to pick clothes out of the royal wardrobe. She found it silly as of recent memory that the royal family got their own wardrobe, but she remembered being a little girl and thinking it that it made her feel so special. She wished there was a way to come in contact with that feeling again. 

She settled on a plain long yellow dress, puffy long sleeves with small bands around her waist. She felt uneasy having Coran fix her hair, as it might remind him too of better times. So she sat there, looking at the various mists, masks, and sprays that scattered across her vanity. That is, until Chuchule, one of the mice, made herself visible. She scurried up the vanity and onto Allura's hair, nudging one of the locks as if asking permission. Allura smiled gently and nodded.

  
  


Coran was a man of theatrics and drama. Despite this, he found himself hunting for a plainer outfit. It was, after all, a celebration for the paladins and the return of the princess. He was neither a paladin nor a prince. He replaced his usual outfit with a similar one, with  varying shades of red taking up where the blue would be. It was one of his absolute favorite outfits. 

 

Pidge was the last of the paladins to choose an outfit, and for good reason, since she hadn't spent most of her time in the wardrobe with the others. Instead, she had spent most of this allotted time in the control room. Researching. Planning. It was a great plan, it really was. She just wasn't sure if the others were going to want to hear it. Her plan was to leave in search of her family, only rover at her side. 

She sighed, skimming the wardrobe  boredly. She did still have to attend celebration, not sure when she would be parting. Her eyes wandered to the green garments-normally her favorite color. It felt wrong to wear anything green now, since she wasn't planning on staying as the paladin of the green lion. She couldn't bring herself to do that. Still, she had to find something. Maybe in a different color? She was always fond of purple. 

Sure enough, she managed to find a long sleeved shirt in a light purpley color. It reminded her of a shirt she had back on Earth. She paired it with a black legging-ish garment. She frowned, looking in the mirror. The outfit itself was alright, it just seemed......pre kerberos Katie. It brought back a lot of memories, yaknow? And sure the outfit was tomboyish, but after Shiro had managed to figure her out-

Forget it. She didn't want to look too different from the last time her father and brother had seen her. It was enough that she was taller now and presumably looked and sounded a bit older, but her hair was now clumsily cut into a very short hairstyle, almost as short as her father's if not for the wild bangs. She pulled at a strand of it, hard. Force of habit, she guessed. 

* * *

  
  


The gang walked over to the village together, Allura talking all the way. 

“And of course, I would love to join you for the festivities, however, the king of the Arusians would like to discuss Voltron with me, and since I have been curious of what parts of the story have been altered under Zarkon’s rule, I will be in the library,” she continued.

“Wait, you’re not gonna be there?” Hunk asked. He looked disappointed. 

“I do apologize,” Allura hid her excitement. 

“Who am I supposed to hang out with if you’re not going to be there?” Keith grumbled.

“I know we’re not nearly as cool as the princess is, but you can hang out with us!” Hunk beamed.

“Hunk,” Lance looked ready to punt something across a football field. 

“Lance, play nice,” Shiro instructed.

“Him first,” Lance grumbled, Shiro rolled his eyes.

Pidge didn’t speak much during the walk over to the village, instead she was lost in thought. It didn’t matter. It was a short walk to the festival and no one had time to question her silence. She was thankful for that.

* * *

 

* * *

When they arrived to the party, the Arusians greeted them with cheers and thanks for keeping their village intact. Allura peeled off quickly with the King, Keith didn't wait long before he found a corner to go be upset in. Hunk and Pidge were fast to get distracted as well. 

"What now?" Lance asked. 

"I dunno, you could go to the buffet I suppose, there's a wide variety of options for nourishment. If you like, I could escort you, but you could probably find the giant table in the back by yourself," Klaizap answered.

"Sure!" Lance said.

"Sure to which? The escorting or the finding it yourself?" Klaizap asked.

"The uh, the first thing," Lance smiled. 

"Okay!" Klaizap lit up and took his hand. It was hard for Lance to keep up with her, hunched over because she was that much shorter than him. He struggled not to trip. Finally, they reached the table. And there was indeed a wide range of foods and beverages. Klaizap stood with Lance as he made a plate. She looked at him and studied his armor as closely as she could. 

"Go ahead," Lance said to her. 

"What?" Klaizap stepped back. 

"You can ask what you want, I'm not gonna, you know, bite or something," Lance explained. 

"....Bite?" Klaizap placed a hand on her sheath. 

"Earth expression," Lance waved it off, "anyway, yeah, ask away."

"How old are you in Earth years?" Klaizap blurted out. 

"Uh, what?" Lance asked, "sixteen."

"How long....are Earth years?" Klaizap asked. 

"In terms of days, 365. And I talked it over with her, there's more Vargas in a day on Altea. I don't know how to calculate that into ticks or anything," Lance rambled. 

"Wow. Sixteen?" Klaizap asked in disbelief. Lance nodded slowly. 

"You're barely older than me in that case," Klaizap looked thoughtful, "and you're a paladin of Voltron."

"Yeah, well, you're a warrior," Lance pointed out. He shoveled a mashed potato looking substance onto his plate, hoping it tasted a little bit like the dish back on Earth.

"I've never faced real danger. I've never even been outside of my own village. That is, until I met you and the Princess and her Advisor and the other paladins," Klaizap confessed.

"Well, if it helps, when you were running at me with a knife, I couldn't tell," Lance smiled. 

"Thanks," Klaizap smirked back at him.

"So.......is sixteen emotional maturity on Earth?" Klaizap continued questioning.

"No. Well, depends. It's not where I'm from. Still got two more years," Lance explained. 

"Oh," Klaizap looked down, "I've studied Earth in charted star systems. You are a very far way from home."

"Yeah," Lance scratched at the back of his neck, "I miss it. a lot." 

"Do you like being a paladin?" Klaizap asked.

"I mean," Lance traced the rim of his glass, "I've always wanted to be a part of something big. Something special. My moms always said they were sure I would. Now I am."

"That wasn't an answer," Klaizap pointed out. 

"Okay, I think I'm done answering questions for now. Your questions, at least."

"Have  I upset you?" Klaizap looked guilty of of a sudden. 

"No!" Lance assured her, "It's not your fault. I promise. I guess I just don't like Earth questions, is all."

"Oh, I see," Klaizap seemed to understand. She stayed quiet for a little while, watching Lance plate his food with a great deal of concentration. 

When he was done, he looked around to to find a place to sit. But there were no tables or chairs. Lance sighed in defeat. It seemed rude to sit on the floor.

"Guess I'm eating at the buffet," Lance shrugged. He hunched over the table as much as he could without hurting himself to eat. 

"Of course," Klaizap nodded.

"Are you going to get yourself a plate?" Lance asked when she just stood there blankly. 

"Oh!" Klaizap got the same guilty look on her face as she did before. 

"You don't have to," Lance assured her. 

"No, no, I will," Klaizap reached for a plate, "I just thought.....nevermind, I don't know what I thought."

The two hunched over the table in a comfortable silence as they ate. Lance took a bite of something that had looked delicious on the table. He tried not to frown, as as soon as he did taste it, he began questioning why he thought it looked so appealing in the first place. 

And it wasn't as if it was terrible, just...plain. Waxy even. Like the food he got at the Garrison. Or the food goo. Lance didn't know why he was expecting something more exciting. 

Maybe it was Klaizap. How if he squinted at her mannerisms, he saw Veronica. At least, the way she behaved when they were kids. Loud, outgoing, friendly. Maybe that's why he was expecting something a little more homey out of it. 

Lance knew exactly what condiments this dish needed, too. He could do it if only such extravagances were available. none such were. He loved to cook and flavor things. Him and Hunk both. Lance more than Hunk, but people just always assumed that Hunk was the one who liked it more. Maybe it was his build that made people assume that Hunk was more into cooking. Maybe it was the fact that a lot of his classmates at the Garrison viewed Lance as more macho. Either way, or maybe a combination of both, it always, always pissed Lance off.

He knew though that somewhere in this party, Hunk was pushing his food to the corner of his plate so it would look like he had eaten more. Lance sighed, struggling to get down the space version of crackers and toast. There must be someone other than Earth people who make flavorful food. He just had to find them. Either that or he would suffer in silence for goodness knows how long until he could finally return to Earth. The latter was the grimmest option he could think of. 

* * *

 

Pidge attempted to dodge the others for as long as she possibly could, which was difficult to do considering the situation she had been put in. Her friends were making merry far away from her, which was good. But she couldn't avoid them forever, which was bad. She leaned against the wall, trying to look as invisible as she could, which was hard. She pushed up her glasses up the bridge of her nose. Alien music was playing, as one would expect from a gathering such as this one. The music was unlike anything she'd ever heard. 

It struck her to think about what all kinds of music she'd be able to hear throughout her search. What kind of music existed outside of Earth. Allura had mentioned that the music on Altea had been beautiful. Pidge's nose twitched. The music was percussionist in nature, with hints of string instruments in the back. The beat was fast, being played live by some musicians on a golden platform. The instruments radiated sounds unlike Earth drums and string instruments for sure. A lot more twingy and echoey for one. If she could just focus on the music and not think about the thing she wasn't supposed to be thinking about, she would be absolutely golden to enjoy this party. 

"Yo, Pidge!" Hunk jogged towards her with  a blissful look on his face. She swallowed whatever thought he had interrupted.

"Hey Hunk," she said as nonchalantly as she could. Which was not very nonchalant. Luckily, it was Hunk who was greeting her instead of Lance, who always knew when she was upset. Still, Hunk was fairly observant, and she was thankful that this time around, He didn't seem to notice how nervous she was acting. 

"Have you tried the food here?" Hunk asked.

"Hmm?" Pidge subconsciously took a small step backwards. 

"The food, Pidge," Hunk repeated. 

"No," Pidge answered plainly. She hoped that if she was boring enough in this conversation, he would go away at last and go find some other way to entertain himself. 

"I swear to fricken God, it tastes like someone cooked beige and served it to us. Lance could make something  better. Hell, Keith could probably make something better," Hunk continued.

"That'd be a sight, Keith cooking," Pidge chuckled quietly, pushing a strand of her black hair out of her eyes. 

"It definitely would," Hunk agreed, "so, Pidge, whatcha up to?"

"Nothing," Pidge shrugged. She let the word drag out for far longer than it need be dragged. 

"Nothing, huh?" Hunk echoed.

"What about you?" Pidge asked.

"Uh, Well I was just coming over to see what you were doing," Hunk answered. 

"Cool," Pidge folded her arms. 

"Are you okay? You're acting weird," Hunk observed.

"Am not," Pidge argued, "just because you perceive me as upset doesn't mean I am. Upset, that is. In case that wasn't clear."

"'Kay," Hunk raised an eyebrow. 

"So......uh........" Pidge attempted to make an excuse to leave, but she couldn't find the words. She blamed social anxiety and her being a nervous liar. 

"What?" Hunk looked very bored. Her plan was working. 

"What are you gonna do? After this conversation, I mean," Pidge asked.

"I dunno," Hunk shrugged, "why? Do you want me to leave? 'Coz I can leave you alone, absolutely no problem."

"No no, It's not that," Pidge lied, "I was just wondering."

"Well uh, I don't know," Hunk said again, "any suggestions, Gunderson?"

"You could....go talk to the locals," Pidge suggested.

"No, thanks," Hunk scrunched up his nose. 

"Harsh, Hunk," Pidge shifted her weight to the other side of her body. 

"No, no, don't get me wrong, the Arusians seem like perfectly nice people," Hunk backtracked, "It's just that.....I mean.......I just know they're gonna ask all sorts of questions is all."

"Questions?" Pidge repeated.

"Yeah, like what it's like to be a paladin of Voltron, to be part of a legend. That's just heavy, y'know, I'm just trying to ease my way into it."

"We've been paladins of Voltron for roughly ten weeks now. I think we're pretty eased in, Hunk," Pidge pointed out. 

"You know what? I think I'm gonna go find Keith. Do you wanna come with me?" Hunk asked. 

"No, thanks, I think I'm gonna go eat some of those beige foods you told me about. Can't be worse than my dad's cooking, and I'm pretty hungry," Pidge answered, edging slightly away from him. 

"Yeah, okay, have fun," Hunk waved, "godspeed Pidge, you're gonna need it."

"Yeah, alright," Pidge called after him. Alone again, at last. She supposed she shouldn't have grilled Hunk for his not wanting to speak to the Arusians on how it felt to be a paladin, especially considering the fact that put in his situation, she'd be exactly as squirmy as he was, maybe more. Though, she knew it was probably for different reasons than hers. Her reasons were the fact she didn't want to be seen as a hero when she planned to leave the team in search of her father and brother, so what was Hunk's excuse? As far as Pidge could tell, his whole family was safely back on Earth. Or maybe, that was the problem.

In any case, he should be less nervous than she was at present. But uh oh, now she was thinking about that which she absolutely was not supposed to be thinking about. She was making the right decision. She knew she was. It just didn't....feel like she was making the right decision. She remembered back in one of the simulators, she had gotten distracted. She hadn't been to throw her brain entirely into Voltron from the beginning, her family at the back of her mind all the way. 

Even if she thought about that which she was not supposed to be thinking about, there was another thing she was refusing to think about, and that was her mother. How she was probably worried sick, how Pidge leaving meant her mother being the last Holt standing, all by herself in that big house with all the family pictures. 

Again and again, Pidge wondered if her decisions were the right ones. 

* * *

 

Hunk, as he said he would, went to find Keith. It wasn't hard to spot him over the floor, short but still taller than the Arusians, sulking in the corner. Making his way over to Keith without attracting attention to himself was a harder task. He moved as slowly as he possibly could along the wall of the room, Hoping that most of them were shy enough that they wouldn't approach him. And maybe that was a mean thing to think, but Hunk couldn't bring himself to think about that little factoid. 

At last, he managed to reach the mulleted paladin. He smiled in relief, knowing being engaged in conversation would not only keep him entertained, but hopefully stop more outgoing Arusians from approaching him. 

"Hey, Keith," Hunk greeted.

"Oh, hi Hunk,"  Keith was quiet. His eyes were squinted, his posture slanted, arms crossed and lips tightly pressed together. He clearly did not want to be around anyone. Then again, Keith never seemed to want to be around anyone, except for Allura, so it was kind of like calling the ocean blue. Maybe he just needed a little push to come out of his shell.

"How's it going?" Hunk asked. Keith let out a strained sigh in response. He didn't like small talk. Trying again, Hunk said "I noticed you outside Lance's room this morning."

"What?" Keith stepped backwards, almost losing his balance. 

"Dude, relax, I'm not gonna tease you or something. I just want to know why, is all," Hunk assured him. 

"His room is next to mine," Keith pointed out, "I have to stand in front of his room sometimes."

"True, very true, but do you have to linger there for like an hour with your fist in the air as if you want to knock but can't bring yourself to?" Hunk smirked. 

"Whatever you're getting at, I know I don't like it," Keith's rumbled. 

"Oh, trust me, you're right in that suspicion," Hunk chuckled, "now why?"

"If I was going to tell someone about this, It wouldn't be you," Keith said rudely, "uh, no offense or anything."

"Except for the fact that you are going to tell me," Hunk wiggled his eyebrows. 

"No way," Keith argued, "I think you

"If I promise I won't tell Lance, would you tell me?" Hunk proposed.

"It would certainly become a more appealing option," Keith answered, jade in his voice. 

"I promise I won't tell Lance. Even though he's my best friend. And I've only known you for like, a while. This I will do for you," Hunk continued.

"Fine, fine," Keith sighed, "though I really don't even think it would make any sense whatsoever."

"Try me," Hunk slowly sipped his beverage.

"It started about a week ago," Keith looked down, "when Shiro started getting on our case about how we weren't getting along. I've been trying to call a truce all week, so Shiro will stop breathing down my neck about it and so we all can work better as a team, but I guess I just...."

"Chicken out?" Hunk finished for him.

"Not even close to what I was gonna say," Keith glared.

"Please, enlighten me," Hunk shut up and started nursing his.....smoothie? Thing? again.

"I guess I just get hesitant, that's the word I was gonna use, because Lance is just so difficult to talk to. You wouldn't know that, being his best friend and all," Keith explained. 

"Ah. Well, believe it or not, sometimes I think he's pretty hard to get along with too."

"You guys are so in sync though. I look at you guys and I see people who couldn't fight with each other if they tried," Keith looked mildly confused.

"Yeah, well," Hunk shrugged, "I'm stubborn and resistant to change, he thrives off of change and trusting of people he's known for like five minutes. You do the math."

"Huh," Keith shook his head, "but it's harder for me to talk to him, you know? He hates me. I don't even know why, so even if I was sorry I couldn't apologize for it."

"Oh, what, the rival thing?" Hunk chuckled, "Don't even pay attention to that. I think he just wanted a rival for sake of having someone to compete against so he would always be trying to improve himself. Trust me, nothing personal. At least I think that's what's going on. Hard to tell with Lance at all times. You've just gotta, you know, break down the wall."

"You think?" Keith looked up. 

"Absolutely," Hunk nodded. 

"Now then," Keith traced the rim of his glass, "now that I told you that, I think I could stand to ask you some questions."

"What?" Hunk was taken aback. He didn't expect Keith to be forward. At all. Ever. With anyone.

"Yeah, like uh," Keith paused, "what's your deal with Allura?" That question sent Hunk's mood from about a 50 to a 1000. 

"Says the guy that clings to her like a wet napkin to a soda puddle," Hunk retorted.

"What?" Keith furrowed his brow, "What does that even mean?"

"It means.....I could ask you the same question, Keith."

"What? I like Allura. She's probably the coolest person in the castle. So I hang out with her," Keith shrugged, "but you're always like, looking at her and stuff. If someone sasses her or something you're always the first one to be on her side."

"Like you said, she's probably the coolest person in the castle."

"Hunk," Keith raised an eyebrow.

"What do you want me to say? Do you think I have, like, a crush on her or something?"

"I didn't before you said that, but now I do."

"I don't," Hunk insisted. 

"Whatever," Keith shrugged. 

"And hey, you're one to talk with Lance," Hunk accused. Keith's face morphed back into confusion quickly. 

"What are you talking about?" Keith asked.

"Nothing," Hunk backtracked again, he found himself doing that a lot this evening, "never mind. I was mistaken."

"You're weird and confusing dude," Keith shook his head. 

"Ditto you," Hunk shot back, "you're also cool in addition to being weird though, so I like you."

"You like me?" Keith asked.

"Absolutely, Keith, You're fun, if a little grumpy."

"Uh. Well," Keith rushed to find a response, "I like you too, you know, you're cool, whatever."

"Sweet," Hunk smiled, "any more questions, Keith?"

"Not that I can think of," Keith scratched his jawline, "wait, no, I got one."

"Shoot," Hunk said. 

"How do you and Lance do that thing?"

"What thing?"

"You know, where you and Lance talk so fast that no one else can understand you. I swear, all your conversations sound like gibberish. And how do you, uh, I've seen you finish each other's sentences, or guess what the other one is about to say perfectly, or even communicate only in looks."

"Years of practice, my good man. That's what a long friendship does to you."

"How long have you guys been friends?" Keith asked. The next obvious question. 

"Before the Garrison. Six years, I think? My family and I were on vacation to Miami and I just happened to run into him at a karaoke bar and grill."

"Wow. So you guys were like, ten?"

"Yeah. We hit it off immediately, and sang a duet together in our cheesy glory. It was pretty embarrassing, but our moms cheered us on the whole time. After that we bonded over both having big families and two moms and we kept in touch. When we both got into Galaxy Garrison, we were ecstatic to be in the same proximity as each other at all times."

"The only person I've known since I was ten was Shiro. And we never developed that kind of telepathic connection where we just know what the other person is gonna say before we say it."

"By the way, what's the story with you and Shiro? If you don't mind sharing, I mean."

"Uh, it's kind of a long one. And not as cutesy as yours and Lance's story for sure."

"Is that a 'yes I would mind sharing?"

"Well, no. I guess it's okay to talk about.See, my mom left when I was just a baby, and my dad left on her tracks when I was like, nine."

"That's pretty harsh," Hunk said.

"It's.....yeah. Anyway, I was on my own for the better half of a year, with absolutely no idea how to take care of myself. And it didn't help that I was so young. I feel like if he had left when I was thirteen, I would be better equipped to take care of myself. I couldn't get a job, so to get groceries I kinda......"

"Oh."

"Yeah. One of those times when I was about ten and seven months, I was trying to steal a loaf of bread when one of the grocers caught me and told me how much trouble I was in. Then Shiro showed up," Keith paused, "he pretended I was his little brother, and he paid for the loaf and apologized for the incident. The rest is kind of history."

"Wow. He really looked out for you, huh?"

"Yeah, yeah he really, really did. But again, no psychic connection. Though we do have code words and stuff like that." 

"Code words?"

"Uh, yeah. Like when one of us brings something up that the other person knows will start a fight or they absolutely do not want to talk about, one of us will say void."

"Void?"

"Yeah."

"I like it."

"There's other stuff, too. Like we have a look that means we need to split off and talk away from the others. Which has been pretty helpful as of late. Do you guys have any code words?"

"I guess we........yeah. A few. But if I told you, then I'd have to kill you," Hunk answered. Keith laughed at that, actually genuinely laughed. 

"Mostly we just use how much we know about each other against each other. We're kind of each other's journals that way. And we've known each other for a while. I know things that would mortify Lance for me to talk about."

"Now I'm curious."

"No way. Best friend's honor."

"Fair enough. If you asked for Shiro's most embarrassing story, there is no way in hell I'd tell you."

"I'm sure there's some good stuff you've got on him though."

"Yeah. Definitely, yeah," Keith agreed. 

"What were we talking about before this?"

"I have no idea," Keith shrugged.

"Oh, yeah, you and Lance and your ever present want to truce him vs your inability to get along with him."

"I was actually hoping you wouldn't remember."

"Yeah, well."

"Today we almost lost a battle because I couldn't get along with Lance. This shit has to end."

"Yes, yes it does."

"But Lance is an asshole," Keith argued with himself, glaring at the  blue paladin from across the way.

"He's not that bad, and he's actually really sweet."

"I say again, easy for you to say." 

"Come on, Keith, you've just gotta break-"

"I've just gotta break down the wall. Yeah. I got it. I've got that. Crystal clear. My question is how am I supposed to do that?"

"Can't be that hard, I mean, I broke down your walls, didn't I?"

"I.....you....." Keith looked down and sighed loudly, "I guess you kinda did, didn't you?"

"Yes I did. You could even talk to him at the party, if you'd like."

"I would not like."

"Come on, Keith, where's your sense of adventure?"

"Somewhere in the training room in the castle."

"Keith."

"Fine, "Keith finally huffed, "but on one condition only."

"Sure, anything."

"If I'm gonna do this, you're gonna have to do something you're scared to do."

"You're scared to talk to Lance?"

"I never said that."

"Good luck finding something," Hunk rolled his eyes.

"You have to go talk to the Arusians. I know you've been avoiding that all night."

"How did you-"

"The way you were clinging to the walls while you were walking over here. Do we have a deal?"

Hunk looked at Lance from across the way. He was talking to the Arusians, and he seemed absolutely fine. Do it for the team, do it for the team, Hunk told himself silently.

"Deal."

* * *

 

Allura stood among the hundreds of thousands of dust coated books in the royal library. The king had spent a good varga talking her ear off about how much of an honor it was to have THE princess Allura standing in his castle, in his library, when she had been speculated to die thousands of years ago. When Allura had enough of his flattering but admittedly boring raving, she finally spoke. 

"Shall we get started?" Allura asked.

"Ah, of course! Where would you like to start?" The King clasped his hands together. 

"I have no idea where to even begin. Ten thousand years is a long time for the story to evolve and perhaps lose or gain details that alter the story," Allura answered.

"Absolutely. I can choose a place to start, if you would like," The King gestured towards aisles of books in the corner.

"That would be lovely," Allura smiled.  So the king led her down a long aisle of books and opened up one book with a dusty brown cover. 

"Please forgive me, there have been many adaptations of the story of Voltron, scattered across the universe. I have been collecting them for as long as I have been king. Some of these adaptations are sinister in nature, having been published by the Galra themselves to further hatred. If you would like to hear excerpts of those such adaptations as well, I would be happy to share those with you. However, we start here, with my personal favorite retelling."

When Allura gave him the nod to go ahead, he began with a deeper voice than he spoke with in casual conversation, presumably alluding to him trying to convey tone.

"Long ago, before the Galra Empire came to be, before Zarkon rose to power, and before ancient library's texts were shredded in the name pf preventing an uprising against the foul Galra, there was Voltron. Voltron itself began when the King of a long forgotten civilization, discovered five robotic lions. It is unclear where the lions came from, but they were more than just scrap metal and shiny paint."

"If I may interrupt, the lions were not simply found. My father and his colleagues built them from crystals, specifically ones created from meteor crashes and other celestial disturbances," Allura could not articulate why it bothered her so much that that particular detail was so glaringly wrong, but it made her stomach settle in unease.

"Of-Of course," The King scrambled to skip past this part of the story, "These lions had unique abilities, and formed psychic connections to their pilots. The king watched each lion choose its pilot, one of which was Zarkon. The leader of Voltron. The king bravely commanded the leader in black from his castle-"

"Sorry, again, but my father wasn't simply watching from the sidelines, he was the pilot of the red lion. It was my mother that commanded aside of Voltron."

"Your mother?" The King scoffed. 

"The Queen of Altea," Allura clarified. 

"I....." The King trailed off, "Altea?"

"That is the planet where the King built the lions. My home," Allura explained. 

"I see," The King looked down at his book in perplexment, trying to make sense of the stories that were told and retold versus what actually happened. 

It was a solid chunk of time before one of them spoke again. The dust of the old library made  her eyelids heavy. 

"Shall I continue?" The King asked after a while, tilting the book in Allura's direction. 

"Yes.....maybe," Allura let out a long sigh.

"Is something the matter, Princess?" He raised a hand to her shoulder. 

"Nothing is the matter, your majesty," Allura stood and ran her thumb along the edge of a row of books.

"Are you certain?" The King asked. There was silence again as Allura walked slowly to the edge of one of the shelves. She looked onwards towards a large window that displayed the night sky. It was beautiful, but her father had always told her that the stars were far more dazzling up close. She leaned on the shelf and furrowed her brow. 

"I'm just so far away from home. And it's not as if I am my father on a diplomatic mission. I can't go back. My home was destroyed ten thousand years ago," Allura closed her eyes, "but it feels like it only just happened."

"Oh, Allura," The King looked solemn.

"If I close my eyes I'm still there, standing before the cryopod with embers in my eyes begging my father to listen to me," Allura said. 

"I cannot imagine that kind of grief," The King said. His words were meant to be comforting, but they only further alienated the princess. She dug her nails into her skin. 

"I am glad for the fact that you never have," Allura looked at the floor. This was a terrible idea. All it did was remind Allura how alone she was, how everything happened so long ago, leaving the galaxy to have completely moved on while her head was still catching up to the idea of no Altea, no home, no family.

"Perhaps...." The King trailed off.

"Perhaps?" Allura croaked.

"Perhaps I have one book that does not remove the heart of voltron for the sake of the narrative," he continued.

"Oh?" Allura turned to face him. 

"Yes. It is....well it is a children's book, meant to be a fairy tale, a beacon of hope for youngsters."

"I'm sorry, your majesty, but I don't think that would make me feel-"

"I am terribly lousy at making people feel better. I know that, and a good handful of my subjects know that as well. But-and this is only if you would like me to, Princess-I could, at the very least, try to lighten your spirits."

Allura looked back towards the window and contemplated the king's words. She inhaled a long breath of air and dust. She finally turned back around to face him after a few moments of silence.

"That," she softened her gaze, "that would be lovely."

* * *

 

Shiro coasted along the edge of the palace wall, sipping his drink slowly as he watched the festivities unfold before him. He tried not to attract too much attention to himself, which was hard, being the leader of Voltron and probably the tallest person at this party. He managed still to fly mostly under the radar, a shy Arusian approaching him now and again to ask a question about what it was like to be a paladin of Voltron, how he kept cool leading a group of teenagers into battle, etc, etc. It wasn't exactly the most exhausting party to be at, though he suspected the questioning would get more intense once the king returned from talking with Allura in the palace library. 

After Shiro had answered the questions of what seemed to be children, though with how small and ageless the Arusians are he really couldn't tell, he spotted a friendly face with  an unmistakable orange mustache. Coran walked towards him with a bright smile on his face, Eyes squinting with laughter and baring his narrow sharp teeth. He waved at the black paladin.

"Shiro!" He shouted, as if Shiro couldn't clearly see Coran barreling towards him. 

"Hi, Coran," Shiro greeted when the royal advisor reached him.

"Shiro, we haven't really had much a chance to talk since the beginning of the party, though I can't say I'm surprised, seeing as how the Arusians have taken a liking to you and the rest of the paladins," Coran rambled, "I do apologize though!"

"Coran, please don't apologize. I've managed to have a pretty good time so far on my own. It's not your job to entertain me," Shiro insisted.

"Why, of course it is," Coran argued.

"How do you mean?" Shiro asked.

"Well I'm not much of a royal advisor without a monarch to advise. Excepting, of course, Allura. But Allura is very headstrong individual, meaning she makes most every decision for the good of Voltron and the castle on her own. An admirable trait, of course, but without the advising portion of the royal advisor job description, I pretty much only have room to entertain and see to it that the castle remains in tip top shape," Coran explained. 

"Aha," Shiro took another sip of his drink. It was almost too thick to drink, and it tasted overly sweet and sour, like cordial. It burned his throat slightly, and he hoped that it was edible for humans and he wasn't slowly killing himself with this disgusting beverage. Though, with how dreadfully boring this party was, he probably wouldn't mind that much if it was killing him slowly. He hid his grimace with a frail smile and acted nonchalant. 

"I did have to step out of the party for  good while, as I'm sure you noticed," Coran continued, feeling the engravings on the wall with a free hand, "anyway, I was just seeing to it that the palace guests got out of the cryopods alright and got ready for the festivities in time."

"The palace guests?" Suddenly the drink got all the more hard to swallow. Shiro stifled a cough and leaned along the wall, this time not for leasure rest, but for balance instead.

"Yes, well, I didn't think it would be too respectful to continue calling them the freed prisoners. After all, I don't know how I would feel about that myself." 

"They're gonna be here? At the party?" Shiro asked. 

"In about a hop and a skip! Which is a rather funny human expression that Lance told me about that he said sounded like something I would say," Coran continued, oblivious of Shiro's inner turmoil. It wasn't like he could just leave the party, being one of the star guests. And it wasn't like thy wouldn't see him from across the room, anyway. 

"Are you alright, Shiro?" Coran asked, breaking the thick silence that surrounded Shiro as he attempted to formulate a plan. The key word was attempted, and not very well or efficiently at that. 

"Yes," Shiro said entirely unconvincingly. Coran raised an eyebrow. He studied the black paladin's facial expressions carefully, twirling his majestic mustache as if it helped to concentrate. Coran hummed a low tune, until the realization of what was really going through the black paladin's mind finally dawned on him.

"Would you prefer I told the castle guests to stay at the castle? I suppose I could come up with some sort of excuse, like they must avoid any sort of physical exertion after their stay in the cryopods. Which, actually, isn't all that untrue. I remember Alfor celebrating his survival of a great injury and his fast healing rate by sliding down the palace stairs on a very flimsily made mat that I suspect he stole from the training room. And he didn't put on any sort of armor beforehand, either. It was like going through a crowded asteroid field in a cargo ship. i.e. not a great idea. The then prince wound up back in the cryopod just as quickly as he exited it. Landed in there for longer than he had been for the initial injury," Coran chuckled, "There's not a doubt in my mind that if he was alive right now and the younger paladins' age, he would have stirred up a great deal of trouble with Keith and Lance by now. Speaking of, don't tell either of them that story, we can't afford to put Voltron on hold like that and furthermore........we were talking about something entirely different than this. I apologize."

"Don't worry about it," Shiro sighed. 

"So would you like me to tell the guests to remain as they are for the evening?" Coran asked. 

"No," Shiro squeezed his eyes shut. 

"No?" Coran repeated back.

"I can't avoid them forever," Shiro explained.

"Actually, the princess has seen to it that a cargo plane is fully stocked with supplies for them to leave tomorrow. So, if you would like-"

"No," Shiro cut him off, "Even if I could technically get away with not talking to them, if I don't apologize now, the guilt is going to eat me alive."

"Shiro, you understand it wasn't your fault, what happened while you were in captivity?" Coran looked concerned now. 

"I'm trying to, believe me."

 

* * *

  
  


Keith felt his feet drag along the floor as he walked towards Lance. They felt heavier somehow, like they were trying to stop him from reconciling. Lance did not look pleased to see him, he never did.  Keith tightened his lips into a line before finally speaking. 

"We need to talk," Keith said sternly.

"Do we, now?" Lance asked. His mouth twisted into a small but noticeable scowl.

"Yeah, we do," Keith insisted. And damn, he would be so much more intimidating if he had an inch or two on Lance. Instead, he was at least two inches shorter. 

The current song was much slower than the other stuff, and it seemed some of the Arusians were pairing up to dance with each other. Keith ground his teeth, hoping he wouldn't have to do what he was suspecting he would.

"Sorry, I'm dancing," Lance shrugged, "you'll have to come back later."

"It's the principle of the thing, pretty boy, I've got eyes on me if I don't talk to you right now," Keith grumbled.

"So dance with me. Otherwise you can just leave me alone and I'll see you back at the caste," Lance smiled. Keith ground his teeth again. When he was little, he kept a rubber band around his wrist and snapped it when he was about to get really frustrated. He could use that rubber band right about now. 

"I can't dance," Keith protested, "and even if I could, I wouldn't with you."

"Talk to you later then," Lance looked extremely smug after waving Keith off. Keith caught eyes with Hunk, who smiled at him supportively.  Keith sighed. He knew what he had to do. Not breaking eye contact with the taller paladin, he raised his arms over Lance's shoulders, clasping them at the back of his neck. 

"What the hell do you think you’re doing?" Lance asked, flabbergasted.

"I want you to remember this was your idea, hotshot. Dance with you or leave you alone, remember?"

"Yeah, but I didn't think you would actually-"

"Just dance with me and let me talk, alright?" Keith demanded. Lance huffed in defeat and slid his hands to Keith's waist. 

"So, what is it that you couldn't wait to get back to the castle to talk about?" Lance asked boredly.  He thanked his lucky stars that Keith couldn't see Lance's face through his mop of black hair. 

"The team is suffering because of us, and we know it. At least, I know it. Shiro knows it," Keith  could barely manage to get out words nonchalantly without sounding like his breath was hitching. 

"What are you even talking about?" Lance asked.

"C'mon, you're smart. You know what I'm talking about. But since you wanna play dumb, I'll spare you. The fighting. Especially in battle. It's gonna get us all killed," Keith explained. 

"Yeah, that I'll admit to," Lance looked away.

"We can't keep antagonizing each other if we want to win the fight against Zarkon. I know you care about that, Lance, I know you do," Keith continued.

"Of course I do," Lance scoffed, "the fight against Zarkon is something that I care a great deal about, actually, not that you would care to get to know me enough to know that."

"It's not my fault you're such an antagonizing asshole, dipshit," Keith grunted.

"I could say the same about you, you know," Lance pointed out.

"Anyway," Keith continued very loudly, "we need to find a way to compromise. It's not doing the team any favors for us to argue all the time. Shiro, Hunk and Allura have all made that abundantly clear."

"Who am I going to make fun of, then?" Lance smirked.

"I never said you couldn't make fun of me. After the couple of months we had, it would be kind of weird if you didn't," Keith retorted.

"True, yeah," Lance looked back towards him.

"All I'm saying is pick the right times, you know? Don't go out of your way to insult me," Keith instructed.

"Yeah, and I'd expect the same from you."

"I don't-"

"Keith."

"Yeah, okay," Keith looked down, "we both need to lay off each other."

"Now, that I can agree with," Lance smiled. He hoped Keith wouldn't look back up in time to see it, but he did, and a miracle happened. Keith smiled back.

"So, uh, we're calling a truce?" Keith asked.

"Fine, yeah. But it's for the good of the team, not because I like you, mullet. You're still my rival."

"Right, sure," Keith rolled his eyes.

"I'm serious!" Lance protested, "In fact, I'm going to insult you right now."

"Really, Lance, while we're trucing? While. We. Are. Trucing?"

"Trucing is not a word. And yes. Who the hell let you out of the castle of lions wearing those hideous gloves. You couldn't give up your fucking pseudo bad boy aesthetic for twelve minutes to go to a party? And with the fancy Altean robes, too."

Keith couldn't even say anything in response, instead letting out an intense, giddy laugh.

"What's so funny?" Lance demanded. 

"You may be the hardest person I've ever had to get along with, but you're entertaining, I'll give you that."

"Shut up," Lance hissed. His eyes were glaring, but his lips twitched upwards.

"Are you smiling?" Keith asked, dawning a small smirk.

"Absolutely not."

"Whatever you say, asshole."

"Dirtwipe."

"Garbage disposal."

"Pipe cleaner."

"Filthy linen."

And so on and so forth, until the song ended. A new, faster paced song played in its place, and it was a while before the two of them stopped bickering for long enough to realize they were still dancing. 

"Uh, Mullet?"

"Yes?"

"We can stop dancing now," Lance said. 

"Right," Keith jumped backwards, wiping his gloved hands on his robe. Not as if Lance had cooties of some kind. But it seemed like an appropriate reaction. 

"So, we're okay?" Lance asked.

"As okay as rivals can get," Keith smirked again. He peeled away from Lance and walked to find some other way to bide his time. Lance just stood there. 

There was still going to be  some growing pains. Rome wasn't built in a day, after all. Lance and Keith had a bizarre and complex history. But if you squinted, from the inside looking out, there was a thaw. Definitely a thaw. 

* * *

 

Pidge managed to reach the buffet table without arousing suspicion . Of course, why would that attract any attention? They were at a party with food and people were bound to eat at some point in time. Pidge reached the table and turned around to face the rest of the party. Lance was in the corner, talking and laughing with Klaizap. Hunk appeared to be sizing up the Arusians, possibly trying to decide which of them to talk to. Keith was being his usual loner self, standing against the wall with his head down and his hair falling in his eyes. But something was amiss, as his face also curved into a small smile. Or maybe Pidge was just seeing things. Shiro was very tentatively running a finger along the rim of his strange looking glass. Coran was talking to him with a sympathetic expression on his face. 

Pidge turned back to face the buffet before her, watching the different dishes carefully. Because it was all alien food, she had a hard time trying to decide which products were perishable and which were not. A wild guess did not seem like it would be a good idea. Food poisoning was bad already, but food poisoning at the hands of strange food that she didn't even know was safe for humans to consume when freshly prepared. 

Pidge inspected a mashed potato looking dish, deciding if the food was worth the risk. She plated some onto a small test plate, taking a small bite and  grimacing at the taste. It literally tasted like she was taking a bite out of a candle. She swallowed the small glob of it. It didn't have the consistency of mashed potatoes, rather the consistency of cotton candy. Not a bad consistency, of course, but remember the already in place waxxy flavor. But did it taste worse than the food goo she was served back at the castle? Probably not. At the very least, the cotton candy texture offered the simple implication that it was freeze-dried. Which was what she was looking for. Sighing, she opened one of the small, empty food bag and plated as much of the gross substance as she could into the bag. 

Next was a dish that appeared to be just berries. Her father always told her that you should always be careful when it comes to berries, for even a small one has a chance of compromising one's immune system. She decided if the berries tasted as funny as the previous dish, she wouldn't take her chances. 

When she took a bite of one of these berries, she was greeted with a taste of sweetness. Overly sweet. It had the consistency of regular strawberries. She choked on the sweetness and reluctantly shoved a great deal of these berries into her bag. 

There were so many more questionable dishes for the young green paladin to try, and she sized up which ones looked the least awful. Though, she could admit, some of her favorite dishes back on Earth that her mother prepared were awful looking but excellent tasting. Her stomach growled and she wrenched her mind from the thought of a home cooked meal as she moved on a dish that she forced herself to view as appealing. It smelled okay enough, so she expected at least a decent flavor. Alas, the Arusian cuisine had another plan for her in mind. It tasted absolutely disgusting.

However, she realized then that she had spent probably a fairly long time standing in front of the buffet table, and the other paladins may soon start to suspect her. She couldn't risk that. She couldn't. 

So she grabbed everything that looked like it would survive deep space for a handful of months and placed and inconspicuous amount into her bags. When she was done, she looked back onwards onto the party to find the scene completely different. Pidge groaned and wondered if she could manage to sneak back to the castle and prepare the rest of what she would need on her voyage to find her father. 

She coasted along the wall, smiling at any Arusians that made eye contact with her. Completely normal behavior, she reckoned. Perhaps she had been attracting attention all along, with her bag slung over her shoulders. Luckily though, everyone was actually too occupied with their own problems to even notice Pidge as she slid along the wall to her escape. She, of course, didn't know this. So the anxiety in her stomach failed to settle for the remainder of her time trying to leave the celebration. When she finally reached the front entrance, she looked back on the party one final time to see all of the paladins having a good time. They didn't need her, she tried to convince herself. 

* * *

 

Back in the library, the King located the dusty children's book on one of the lower shelves and insisted Allura sit in the comfortable chair by the window with the best view of all the stars. He smiled as he opened the book and began to weave the tale of Voltron, a child's fairy tale. 

"Many years ago, before the Empire and before the war, there was a king on a planet long lost to the sands of time. He was a very kind king, and he loved his people very much. With his queen by his side, he was the happiest person that could be. But the universe had a more complex plan for the king in mind, something that was much bigger than himself. The king was the first stitch in a magnificent tapestry of a legacy. As he found magic crystals with unique powers. And as much as he knew not to mess with forces he did not understand, the king decided to build something incredible out of these crystals. 

Five robotic lions, each different in appearance and power, were made from the crystals. Each needed a pilot, so he set off in search for such pilots. But it would soon be discovered that the lions would not accept just any pilot. Each lion needed a pilot with a personality that went along with the robotics themselves. 

It is said that all of the pilots were of different species, and different personalities to match. The blue lion needed a pilot of caring. The red needed one of daring. The green needed one of smarts, and the yellow needed one of heart. And the black paladin needed one that could lead all these other brave pilots. 

Together, they formed Voltron. An unstoppable hero and savior to all of the universe. Nothing could destroy it, and the team worked very well together, functioning as a family above all else. 

But when Zarkon found out about this new hero, he was more pleased than anyone else, deciding to form an alliance with the Paladins of Voltron for his own gain. He offered power, for Voltron to rule the universe with them, should they listen to his every command.

The king an the other paladins refused, saying that the universe should not be under an inescapable Empire. The king was utterly furious at their refusal, thinking they should be begging to be a part of his glorious empire. In rage, he destroyed the home planets of the Paladins, and threatened for them to give him the lions. 

But the king had other plans, instead hiding the lions all across the universe. It is not known what happened to the original pilots. But it is believed that one day, the lions will find and choose new pilots, and Voltron will bring balance to the universe once again," The king slowly closed the book and eagerly awaited for the princess's reaction. She, in turn, blinked and folded her hands. 

"That was wonderful," she breathed soflty.

"Really?" The  King beamed. 

"Yes. I loved it. Some of the details are still, of course, wrong, but this is the first one we have read here that kept the integrity and heart of my father's legacy!" Allura smiled and looked towards the window, finally feeling some sort of peace in her constant grief and unrest. 

"Well, if you love it," The King sighed, "then you should keep this book."

"What?" Allura was taken aback.

"Please. It is my gift to you for saving us and agreeing to attend our celebration," The King smiled, handing her the brown book. 

"I'm not sure if I could even read it," Allura waved him off.

"The pictures tell a similar story. And besides, the Arusian alphabet is one of the easiest to learn dialects in the galaxy. It is a point of pride with us."

"But...Your collection. You've spent so long obtaining all these versions of the story. I could absolutely never disrupt it like that."

"It is your legacy as well as your father's," The king said gently, "I would not feel right about keeping you from your blood right, as much as you insist you do not need it. I saw the way your face lit up. Princess, you need this much more than I do." 

Cautiously, Allura took the book. She felt the engravements along the faded cover. It had to have been at least a hundred years old. 

"Thank you. Very much," Allura gave a sheepish smile, "if there is any way I can repay you-"

"Nonsense. Absolute nonsense," The king waved her off, stnading up, "you have already done more than enough, and as you liberate the galaxy, you will do so much more for us than we will ever realize."

"Thank you," Allura said, pulling the king into a hug, "this means a lot to me."

"You're very welcome. Now, perhaps it is time to join the festivities and enjoy ourselves."

"Perhaps," Allura agreed, clutching the book tight to her chest. 

* * *

 

Lance stood along the wall with Klaizap, mostly enjoying themselves. Klaizap stood guard of him, as if functioning as a friendly bodyguard. Though she couldn't actually do much, seeing as Arusians were approaching with questions. When a group approached, Klaizap got ready to wave them off, but Lance told her to stand her ground. He really really didn't mind the questions. 

"These are my little siblings," Klaizap sighed in defeat, "you can answer their questions if you want, but remember once you answer one you're probably not gonna be able to get rid of them."

"Blue paladin of Voltron?" One squeaked out. He assumed this one was a child. 

"Please, call me Lance," Lance said sheepishly. 

"Lance......" The Arusian looked down, "Lance, would it be alright if I asked you a question?"

"Of course!" Lance beamed trying to look as friendly and non threatening as he could possibly manage. 

"What's your favorite color?" The small Arusian asked. Lance smiled at the small child. When he was younger, he imagined asking the same exact question to his heroes. Not that he exactly considered himself to be a hero, nor did he want to. 

"Why, it's blue, of course!" Lance smiled. Was that snarky? He didn't mean for it to sound snarky. Luckily, the Arusian didn't seem to notice.

"Is that 'cause you're the pilot of the blue lion?" The kid asked. 

"No, no, blue was my favorite color long before I was the blue paladin. It's been my favorite color for as long as I can remember, actually. So really, I just lucked out, is all."

"Why's blue your favorite color?" Another kid asked. 

"Hey, he said a question. One," Klaizap defended.

"Klaizap, it's alright, I don't mind," Lance insisted, "It's my favorite color because on Earth, that's the color of the ocean. And I love the ocean. I swim in it, surf, and sometimes I guess I just sit there and watch the sun rise over it. And by that I mean I guess I used to do all that stuff? When I get back home, I think the first thing I'm gonna do is go swimming."

"What do you miss most about Earth?" A kid asked. And that question hit him like a ton of bricks. 

"Kids!" Klaizap shouted exasporatedly.

"My family," Lance said softly. He smiled into his drink, "My moms and my grandma and my sister and brothers. There's only one planet in the galaxy that's so special to me. It's okay, though, when the war is over, I can go home and see my family just like I want!"

"But what if you don't ever get to go home?" The kid that asked this question looked more concerned than anything else, so Lance tried not to hold it against the kid. 

"I, uh," Lance squeezed his glass so tightly that he thought it might start to shatter. 

"Okay, kids, why don't you come over here with me and ask some questions and we give Lance a little privacy," Hunk stepped in just in time.

"Yeah, kids, question time with Lance is over, go talk to Hunk. He's the other leg of Voltron. Ooh exciting!" Klaizap redirected the rest of the kids over with Hunk to the other end of the party, looking like she was gonna scold them later. She slowly walked back over to Lance, who was trying to get his breathing to a non upset sort of level, not that he knew for sure that the the Arusians could tell if his breathing was abnormal to begin with, anyway.

"Are you okay?" Klaizap asked, leaning on the part of the wall next to Lance. 

"Yeah," Lance croaked unconvincingly.

"I'm sorry about my little siblings, I am. They just. They get really excited and they fire off at the mouth and they don't know what is or is not appropriate to say," Klaizap explained, "I'm gonna tell them off later, though, I don't want them running around asking that kind of question to everyone they meet."

Lance stayed silent for a while, listening to the buzz of the party and trying to look as unsad as he could. It wasn't working.

"It's okay," he finally said.

"You don't look so okay," Klaizap folded her arms. 

"Yeah, I;m," Lance sighed, "actually, I'm kind of not okay."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Klaizap asked. 

"No it's....you're okay. Enjoy the party. I'm gonna just go hang out in one of the other rooms if that's alright. I'll be back in a little bit," Lance forced a smile.

"Oh....alright," Klaizap hid her concern as he walked away. She made eye contact with Coran, who also looked concerned. She motioned her head towards the direction Lance had gone, and the royal advisor nodded, following closely after the blue paladin.

* * *

 

After the castle guests arrived at the celebration, it took Shiro a while before he was ready to approach them. How does one approach someone in this situation, anyway. He stared at them from across the party, looking onward at them as he contemplated what it it was he wanted to say.  They looked like they were having a pretty good time, much better than him. He finally bit back his fear and made his way across the crowded yellow floor. When they caught sight of him, to his surprise, most of them actually smiled. 

"Champion," The blue one greeted.

"Ugh," Shiro grimaced, "please don't call me that."

"But it is what you are," the pink alien protested. 

"I actually," Shiro altered the subject quickly, "I came over here to apologize."

"For what, exactly, did you come to apologize for?" The blue alien asked

"I don't want to be feared or viewed as the champion. It sickens me, what I had to do, and I'm so sorry that you all had to be a part of it."

"Please, do not apologize for this. It was not your fault, what the emperor and his witch made us do. They forced us all to do it," the blue alien said. 

"Still, I just," Shiro sighed, "I mean to say I don't want you to be afraid or mad at me. Though that is probably exactly what I deserve."

"Your need for reconciliation is a noble cause, it absolutely is. However, you seem to forget that we all survived too. Which means we did things we regret. Things we'll never be able to forgive ourselves for. It does not make any sense to simply dwell on your mistakes alone."

"But....you call me the champion. I fought....so many innocent people. More blood is on my hands  than anyone else here, and I should apologize to someone. I don't want to be a monster."

"Shiro, you are not a monster. You did what you  had to to survive. If you need us to accept your apology to begin the path to healing, then forgiveness you are met with. But you cannot let this guilt consume you. We are not afraid of you, either. True, it was a little jarring to come face to face with you after all this time, but we are eternally grateful for your kindness and compassion. You could have become a monster, to have no remorse and let yourself destroy everything in sight. But you didn't. You chose to hold on to your humanity. That is what is important."

"Thank you," Shiro looked down humbly. 

"There is no bad blood between us, shiro, and if there was? There is no doubt in my mind you could resolve it. Now enjoy yourself, this is a party, for goodness sake." and with that, the pack of guests moved towards the buffet, and Shiro looked down on his arm. That was the thing though, he couldn't remember his mindset when he was the so called Champion. He clenched his metal fist and sighed. Another day, he thought, squeezing his eyes shut. 

 

* * *

 

Pidge made it back to the now empty castle. Her heart was beating like a jackrabbit's when she entered the door. The metal echo of the castle was much louder with no one in it, and the castle groaned and creaked a lot louder. It was way too eerie. If she didn't know any better, she'd think it was haunted, and she forced herself to push the possibility that someone at some point in time had probably died in this castle out of her mind as she made her way to the east corridor, where her room was. 

Her room was neat and tidy, almost too much so. Comparing it with her bedroom back home gave her a headache. She was a collector back home, and te lack of trinkets decorating her room was just another reminder that this wasn't really her home. She stared at the room from the door frame for a couple minutes more before she swallowed her fear and began to tear away at what little personality that the room did have.

She ripped her green sheets off her bed and stuffed them into her pack. If her mother was here, she'd scold her for her poor folding skills, that which prevented her from being able to pack absolutely everything she needed. She missed her mother's scolding more than anything in the world right now. She wondered how her mom was doing right now.. If Pidge had left a note....

She had to focus, she thought, opening the drawers in her dresser and stuffing her hoodie and shorts into the bag. Not that either of these would be too helpful in deep space, she just wanted to make sure she had a comfortable outfit. 

After she had cleared away at her entire bedroom, she stuck around for a little while longer in  the dormatories, opening doors and just glancing inside her fellow paladins' rooms one last time. Shiro's room was almost completely empty, which was to be expected. The paladins hadn't had exactly enough time to decorate or anything. It was too clean. Unlike in the way that Pidge's was too clean. His sheets were neatly ironed and to the perfect angle to the pillow. The only small luxury that Pidge could spot was along the wall next to the bed nook, a full length mirror,

Hunk's room was fairly messy, his sheets laying on the floor bunched up, and clothes astray. The only thing that was in its proper place was his jacket, hanging on the coat hanger by the door. He also had a surplus of small decorative pillows, gifted to him by Allura, Pidge presumed. 

Lance's room was next, the only one that was decorated to some extent, as photos littered the walls, floor, and the top of the dresser. She spotted one such photo of herself and Lance, smiling at the camera. Pidge twitched. She let the door open and close a few times before running into the room and grabbing the photo. She could afford herself one souvenir. 

Keith's room was by far the most eerie. It might be kept messy if there was anything to keep messy, Keith had no possessions. Thar much made sense. What didn't make sense was the marks carved in the wall by presumably Keith's pocket knife. They seemed to be tallies. Pidge wasn't sure how Coran would feel about this if they found out that he had basically made himself a calendar in the marks. 

Pidge walked to an empty cozy room with stationary to write her goodbye letter to the paladins. The mice crowded around her with concerned looks on their faces. As concerned as a mouse can look, anyway.

"Come on, guys, don't make this harder than it has to be," she whined at them. Platt climbed onto her lap and settled there. She sighed. 

It took her far longer than it should have to write the letter, as she kept having to rewrite it because nothing quite sounded right. Everything she wrote made her feel lousy and like maybe this wasn't the right decision. It made her anxious and sad, but she could't just leave without giving some kind of explanation as to where she went, so she pressed on. 

When she finally wrote a letter that didn't make her feel like absolute garbage, she headed to the main control room to retrieve one thing she had almost forgotten to pack; her beloved robo-pal, Rover. 

He was resting, but one press of a button and the small pyramidical  robot slowly started up.

"Hey, bud, we're going on a little trip, do you think we're ready?" Pidge asked. The robot beeped in protest, "C'mon, Rove. It'll be fun. Just you and me, in space, finding my family? Doesn't that sound like fun?" 

The robot beeped sadly and she sighed, opening her pack for the small robot to fly into. It obeyed extremely reluctantly. 

Now, all she had to do was get a ship to fly. 

* * *

 

Lance stood in a room with a large window that displayed the night sky. The atmosphere was thicker here, so Lance couldn't even see as many stars as outside his own bedroom window.

"Lance?" Coran greeted, walking towards the Blue paladin.

"Oh, hi, Coran," Lance forced a smile.

"Are you doing alright?" Coran asked, "You seemed to flee very quickly. Klaizap and myself were concerned."

"I'm okay, honest," Lance sniffed, "I just....I miss home, is all."

"Definitely understandable. Care to talk about it? If you need an ear, I have six," Coran offered.

"Six?" Lance raised an eyebrow.

"A little humor to lighten the mood. I can assure you, Alteans only have two, unless they desire otherwise."

"I'm not even gonna ask," Lance shook his head, "I'm really just missing home more than before lately."

"Explain."

"I've been doing all this stuff to remind me of home, I guess. Going for runs and all that. The thing is though that it's not working. I still miss home. I miss everything. The ocean, the night sky, Sunday morning pancakes, being called half pint by my older siblings even though I'm the tallest, I miss Miami and clearwater beach and our cute little house and rain. God I miss rain. And I miss my mom's flan de huevos and my grandma's traditional Cuban cooking and I even miss food that's not Cuban! I miss like, garlic knots and pizza and mashed potatoes with gravy. I miss Halloween and Christmas and birthdays and sunshine and every freaking other thing about Earth and I'm happy to be a paladin of Voltron and everything it's just HARD, okay?"

"Oh, Lance," Coran furrowed his brow.

"I'm sorry. I just realized you don't know what any of that means," Lance laughed, but he was also tearing up like crazy. 

"There's a lot of things I miss about Altea. Juniberry pie. My best friend Alfor. Probably a hundred other things too. It's hard to live with that....hole....inside you where home used to be. What's important is that you have people you care about to help you through it. And you'll get home, Lance, if I have to take you there myself." 

Lance didn't say anything, only hugged Coran as tightly as he possibly could. 

* * *

 

It didn’t matter where each of them were on Arus at the time. All of them could hear the explosion when the Galra struck the castle. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Coughs and a moth flies out  
> I have returned  
> I'm nowhere near back on schedule and it's gonna take a miracle of G@d for me to get back on track but you know what? I have faith  
> I'd like to thank everyone for their lovely comments on the update! They made it so much easier on me to ease back into writing.


	6. Celebration of the Damned

When the castle was struck, the room Lance and Coran were  in was struck first. They were in the middle of reminiscing still, watching the night sky move as they talked about things they feared they would never see again. It almost felt like some kind of poetry, the way Lance thought in the moment during the blast how he may have been proven right in his assumption that he would never get to see any of the people he loved again. The explosion broke through the wall with no warning, and the two were directly in the path of the blast. Lance thought as quickly as he could. 

"Coran, watch out!" Lance shouted, throwing his body on top of Coran's like a shield. His glasses clattered against the ground, cracking one of the lenses. Lance's elbows collided with the floor, and Coran's head bounced back up, causing their heads to clash together. Lance was definitely, definitely bleeding. If not for the quickly drying wetness upon his face, he would be able to tell by the fact that it was dripping off of his forehead into his line of steadily decreasing sight.  

Lance could feel his pulse in every part of his body, and he could taste bitter copper on his tongue. He swallowed the awful sensation. Fire  was hot on his back, and he could feel himself quickly losing consciousness. He fought hard to stay awake, but the ringing in his ears were beginning to be too much. It suddenly and violently occurred to him that nobody knew that him and coran were in there, and there might not be a good chance that anyone would be able to find them. 

He fought to stand, vision blurring as he attempted to find footing. His legs felt like gelatin, and he was incredibly nauseous. He needed to help Coran, and nothing was going to stand in his way to do that. It was his fault that they were in this room. He wouldn't let himself forget that.

C'mon, Lance, He thought to himself, gritting his teeth together like they offered some sort of extra stability to him. But coran was unconscious and Lance's lungs were filling rapidly with smoke, among other things. He could carry Coran over his shoulder in normal circumstances. IT wouldn't be easy, but he could do it. However he tried, though, when he bent down to sling one of Coran's arms around his shoulder, he did not come back up. He crashed to the ground once again. It was worse now, though, now that he'd tried to stand. And the ringing in his ears was worse now, his vision blurring for more reasons than just the fact that his glasses were now a casualty of the attack. 

His eyes fluttered and he finally succumbed to the darkness. Feeling the weight in his head press against his skull.   

When he was younger, Veronica always said that he never thought before putting himself before others. It was true, and sure, it was plenty admirable. It was one of his mothers' favorite things about him, and one thing that his siblings resented in him. They'd probably give everything to be with him now, but Lance, if he was still thinking about it, would be glad that they were home, safe, not aware of what was happening to Lance right now.

When he lost consciousness, he was sure he was going to die there. He could hear shadows of his past calling him home.

* * *

 

Allura was at the center of the panic when the explosion started, watching the Arusians running and screaming. She wanted to calm them and show them that things would be alright. But as she stood in the confusion and chaos, hearing small blasts and watching bits of ceiling crash to the ground, she came to a horrific realization. The King was still in the library. 

She dropped her previous ambition and ran towards the library. 

“Princess!” She could faintly hear someone shout behind her. She didn’t stop. She couldn’t afford to. The king was in danger, she knew it. She ran into a hallway and up the small staircase that led to the library. The doorknob was burning hot at her touch, and it was then that she knew for sure that the library had been one of the places that had been struck. 

Cautiously, she used her fingertips to twist open the doorknob. The door itself was stuck to its frame, and it took quite a bit of force before she could hear it cracking open. 

Allura pushed the door forward to greet the library in absolute ruin. The wall had a massive hole in it. Her eyes coasted towards the person responsible for this. One of the Galran generals. Sendack.

He didn’t see her come in, nor hear through all the noise. She used this to her advantage, sliding her back along the wall and glancing into the aisles. Many of the shelves were knocked over, and Allura was afraid of what might have happened to the King in all the chaos. 

Finally, she spotted the King, trapped between a pair of shelves that’s opening was now too small for the Arusian royalty to fit through. Allura wasted no time rushing towards him. He looked extremely thankful to see her. The Princess began prying the two shelves apart. That was when Sendack realized he wasn’t alone. 

“Ah, Princess Allura. I was expecting to see you here, but not quite so soon,” He sported a menacing grin, almost too big for his face. 

“Why? Why would you attack the Arusian castle, villain?” Allura gritted her teeth.

“I believe you answered your own question, my dear,” Sendack frowned, “for years, I was told that somewhere in the galaxy, there was a library that contained all the lost literature about Voltron that we didn’t manage to destroy. I was told that if I found it, to destroy it.”

“You can’t just wipe out ten millennia of knowledge! No one could be so cruel to destroy this man’s life work!” Allura protested.

“On the contrary,” Sendack then pulled out some sort of gun, firing it towards the shelf that trapped the king. Instead of bullets or lasers, flames came out of this piece of weaponry. 

Allura gasped, and Sendack exited the room the same way he had entered, leaving Allura and the King to their own peril. 

“Princess, please, get out of here,” The King coughed, “Voltron is in danger.”

“I can’t leave you,” Allura struggled, “and I won’t.”

But the room was filling up quickly with flames and smoke, ash falling into the Princess’s eyes as she struggled with the two shelves. She coughed between every breath, but she could not give up. Finally, she managed to pull the two shelves apart from each other, letting each fall in different directions away from the King. She offered her hand to him, and the two fled the burning library. 

* * *

When Pidge heard the blast, she was still in the castle, preparing one of the escape pods for her leave. She could feel the blast like an earthquake. It rattled her teeth and jaw, even from a ways away. Her ears began ringing from the noise of the blasts. It almost faded before the next blast came, this one closer. Louder. It knocked Pidge to the ground.

“What’s going on?” she wondered aloud, peeling herself off the ground. She was glad she was wearing armor, at least. Another blast occurred, but this time, she was steadying herself along the wall. She could hear that damage was being done to the outside of the castle now. Her body filled with dread as she ran to the control room to see exactly what was going on. 

When she reached the control room, Pidge felt another blast, causing her to slam towards a shelf of metal. She powered up the castle electronics and accessed the security footage file.

Sure enough, there were Galra sentries outside of the castle, trying to get in.  The footage got grainier and shakier after each blast to the castle.There had to be something she could do. Another blast. 

Think, Katie, think, what would dad do? She thought.

Another blast. 

What would dad do? She repeated silently to herself.

Another blast.

This blast broke through the shield, effectively powering down the controls. 

“Shit!” she hissed. She couldn’t see what the sentries were doing, now, but she imagined the fleet was headed for the door, ready to get inside the castle and possibly destroy it from the inside out. Pidge squeezed her eyes shut and tried to formulate a plan as quickly as she could. 

Then it hit her. There was another power source at the heart of the castle. She could head that direction quickly and power the castle back up in time before the sentries could get inside. But first, she had to get a means to contact and warn the others before it was too late.

She headed to the hangar, where the armor was kept. There was a good chance that at least one of the other paladins had brought their helmet along with them to the party. Shiro might have because he was always prepared. Hunk because he was always cautious. Keith because he always had his guard up.

Sure enough, Shiro’s helmet was missing from the hangar. Pidge grabbed her own helmet and prayed that the communications wouldn’t be muddled. 

Placing the helmet on her head, she grabbed her bayard as well, just in case, and headed towards the heart of the castle. But before she could, the sentries, led by Sendack, broke through the door. Pidge hid behind a pillar, hoping to hear what exactly the Galran General’s plans were. 

“You three, find a way to power the castle back up. We take off, with the lions in tow. Emperor Zarkon will be very pleased, I assume,” Sendack commanded. Three of the sentries headed for the heart of the castle. Pidge’s plan just got a little more complicated. 

* * *

Despite Lance’s fears, it didn’t take long for someone to find him and Coran lying unconscious on the floor. Actually, two someones. Shiro and Keith had rushed through the castle, trying to account for the other paladins of Voltron.

“Thank God we found them,” Shiro sighed in relief. 

“Yeah, what’s left of them,” Keith bent over to inspect them, “they’re still breathing. We need to get them to healing pods.”

“Alright, I’ll carry Coran, you can carry Lance. Then, when we get them back to the castle, we come back here and make sure nobody else was knocked unconscious by the blast,” Shiro instructed.

“You carry Lance, I’ll carry Coran,” Keith grimaced.

“Keith, I am not letting you carry a grown man twice your size to the castle,” Shiro argued.

“He is not twice my size, Shiro,” Keith growled.

“Carry Lance, Keith,” Shiro said through gritted teeth, “we do not have time to argue about this and you know it.”

“Fine,” Keith grunted,  struggling to sling the blue paladin over his shoulder. 

“Keith, you can’t just sack carry someone with internal injuries,” Shiro pointed out.

Keith huffed and adjusted Lance, lifting him up by his legs and the back of his head. Lance was heavy, though no heavier than Keith was expecting.

“Is he hurt?” Shiro asked.

“Of course he’s hurt, dumbass,” Keith answered.

“I mean do you see any external injuries? And this time, when you answer, I want you to think about how much extra bonding exercises I could assign to you,” Shiro narrowed his eyes at Keith.

“Uh,” Keith looked closer, “he’s got a pretty big cut on his forehead, there’s a few burn marks on his back and he’s got a split lip. And his outfit is definitely effectively ruined.”

“Okay. Coran has got….actually he’s got a bruise on his face, but pretty much nothing else that I can see,” Shiro wasn’t talking to Keith, more like just thinking aloud for the sake of staying focused. He turned back and looked at Lance, “where are his glasses?”

“I dunno, but I’m guessing we have bigger things to worry about at the moment,” Keith pointed out.

“Right, let’s get back to the castle,” Shiro instructed, and the two of them turned to exit the room. But as they left, Keith felt a crunch beneath his foot.

“Uh, found Lance’s glasses,” Keith said.

* * *

 

Hunk was at the wall when the attack was struck, still talking to the Arusian children as they broke into chaos. The blast was loud enough to cause a great deal of panic. 

“Everyone, it’s uh,” Hunk was never good at the comforting or the calming, “it’s gonna be alright if we all remain calm?”

“You are not good at this, you really, really, are not,” Klaizap told him.

“I know,” Hunk groaned, “it’s hard to calm people down when you yourself are panicking.”

“Where are my little siblings?” Klaizap demanded.

“They all ran in different directions, I’m sorry,” Hunk furrowed his brow.

“I’ll find them. We’ve got to to get everyone outside before we do anything else, anyway,” Klaizap frowned.

“Excuse me, we?” Hunk asked.

“Yeah, I’m obviously helping you,” Klaizap raised the Arusian equivalent of an eyebrow. 

“No way. You’re just as small and squishy and vulnerable as the rest of the Arusians, and you’re not getting hurt because of me,” Hunk argued.

“These are my people. I am a village warrior. You are letting me help. End of discussion,” Klaizap shot back.

“Fine,” Hunk sighed, “but I don’t think you can exactly call what we just had a discussion.”

“Lift me onto your shoulders,” Klaizap commanded.

“Excuse me?” Hunk asked. 

“Now!” Klaizap shouted. Hunk did as he was told and Klaizap began shouting at the other Arusians, “Listen up! All of you need to get out of here right now! There is a shelter for just such an attack a little ways away, but we have to get there quickly, and we have to get there safely. So I want everyone who can hear me to stand by the front door and wait for me and the yellow paladin to finish making sure we haven’t left anyone behind.”

The Arusians in the Cotillion room obliged, heading to the front door and stood still, if slightly panicking.

“Wow, you’re good at this,” Hunk observed. 

“I know,” Klaizap told him, jumping off his shoulders.

The two ran through the castle as quickly as they could, finding several Arusians along the way and helping them to the front of the castle. When they were done with that, Klaizap climbed back onto Hunk’s shoulders to give more instructions.

The group walked about an Earth kilometer. When they reached the underground shelter, many of the Arusians began to quickly pool into it without a word to Klaizap or Hunk. A few stayed behind, though, three smaller Arusians. These ones, on contrary to the rest of the Arusians, ran right for Klaizap.

“You should go. Meet up with the other paladins and all that. I’ve got things covered here,” Klaizap gave a small smile to Hunk.

“Are you sure? Because I could….I could-” Hunk started.

“No, it’s okay. Honest. They need you there. And my little siblings...they need me here,” Klaizap insisted.

“Good luck,” Hunk said.

“You too. And thanks. For everything,” Klaizap waved him off.

Hunk nodded. 

* * *

Hunk finally arrived back at the castle with the others. When he got there, he had a handful of questions.

“What happened?” He demanded. His eyes fell to Keith, who was still holding onto Lance, “What happened?” he repeated. 

“There was a Galra attack. The general that caused these explosions tried to kill the king and me.”

“Are you alright?” Hunk asked. 

“I’m fine. Unfortunately, I don’t think I can say the same about Lance and Coran,” Allura answered. 

“Oh, Lance, buddy,” Hunk whimpered as he looked at the injuries that his best friend had sustained. 

“He’ll be okay once we get him to a cryopod, but the shield is up and I have no idea how,” Allura furrowed her brow.

“Hello?” a distant and crackling voice shouted.

“Alright now what was that?” Shiro asked.

“I. I think it’s coming from you, Shiro,” Allura pointed to his bag. Shiro raised an eyebrow and reached into his bag, pulling out his helmet.

“You brought your helmet to a party?” Keith asked.

“So? You brought your knife,” Shiro pointed out.

“How did-” Keith started.

“You bring your knife everywhere,” Shiro cut him off.

“Can anybody hear me?” The crackling voice asked.

“Pidge?” Shiro asked, putting the helmet on his head. 

“You can hear me. Okay, good. One less thing I have to worry about,” Pidge sighed.

“What’s going on, Pidge?” Hunk shouted probably louder than he had to.

“There’s Galra on the ship. They’re trying to take off with all of the lions,” Pidge explained. 

“What?” Allura demanded, “We have to stop them!”

“We do. The only question is how,” Pidge paused. 

“We could sabotage the castle’s main systems,” Hunk suggested.

“The only way to feasibly do that would be to destroy the crystals that power the castle. Coran has said that they were damaged and might need replacing soon, anyway. Still, it’s definitely a risk,” Allura frowned. 

“If you destroy the crystals, how are we gonna power the cryopod for Lance?” Hunk asked. 

“That is precisely what I’m worried about,” Allura bit her nail. 

“I think sabotaging the castle is the only way, princess,” Keith chimed in, “where do you get these crystals?”

“They are from energy preserving planets called Balmeras. There’s one in this star system, but it would take a long while to get there and back.” Allura expained.

“Not if I modify one of the ships. I don’t have many tools, and I know my lion’s still in there, but I can see what I can do,” Hunk offered.

“The sentries came in ships, you think you could hotwire one of those?” Shiro asked. 

“I think so. I managed to rewire a sentry to help us free those prisoners. I assume they use similar technology for their ships,” Hunk rubbed his chin. 

“So Hunk’s going alone?” Keith asked.

“Uh uh. There’s no way I’m leaving my best friend behind while I go on an extravaganza,” Hunk argued.

“I’m afraid it’s the only way, Hunk,” Allura took his hand.

“I’ll keep him safe. I promise,” Keith said. 

“You’ll need me to navigate the Balmera. Improper extraction hurts the Balmera greatly,” Allura looked down.

“With all due respect princess, Pidge does need your help navigating the castle’s main power systems,” Shiro pointed out.

“I think I can be of some assistance,” Coran grumbled.

“Coran! Are you well? How long have you been awake?” Allura asked.

“Long enough, my dear. I will go with Hunk and help him extract from the Balmera,” Coran struggled to stand up.

“You’re injured. I will go with Hunk, and you can help Pidge sabotage the General’s plan,” Allura suggested.

“Princess, I do not know how your father would feel about you on a mission without my supervision,” Coran folded his hands. 

“I can take care of myself. You on the other hand-”

“Hey!” Coran protested, “But, you are right. I knew this day would come, just not so soon, is all.”

“I will be fine,” Allura smiled.

“Now comes the other issue. Neither of you have armor or weapons,” Shiro said. 

“I’m sure the Galran ship will be fully stocked,” Allura pointed out. 

“It’s gonna be kind of a hairy time frame. I trust that you guys can make it back on time, but you’d better get going now,” Shiro instructed. 

“Right away,” Allura nodded. She twisted on her heel, but before she could start walking, a hand was on her shoulder.

“Princess?” Keith asked.

“Yes, Keith?”

“Good luck,” Keith said.

“Save all the luck for yourself. I’ve got plenty, and it looks like you need some,” Allura responded, heading in the direction of the fleet of ships.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey babes, thanks for your patience. i'm still behind schedule with writing, but due to mental health reasons, I have decided to start the schedule over as if my injury and everything had never happened. Next chapter out tomorrow!  
> As always thank you for reading, comments and kudos are always greatly appreciated, and please consider checking out some of my other works!  
> writeblr: https://cryptid-kogane.tumblr.com  
> artblr: https://sunsofsaturn.tumblr.com


	7. Balmera

“Are you sure you know how to fly this thing?” Hunk asked, gripping the side of the ship.

“I think so. I haven’t worked with Galran technology since I was younger. About Pidge’s age,” Allura explained. Hunk raised an eyebrow, so she added, “I’m more equipped to fly it than you are.”

“Hey, I’m not doubting your skills, but I’m just saying. Try not to fly into like, a meteor, or something,” Hunk looked out the window. 

“I will kick you off the ship if you make another remark like that,” Allura frowned.

“How soon until we get to the Balmera, anyway?” Hunk asked. 

“Soon. I would suit up if I were you,” Allura answered.

“Right,” Hunk looked around for armor that looked like it would fit him.

“Just to brief you, I expect you to be on your best behavior when we get there,” Allura continued.

“This sounds like a lecture you should give to Lance or Keith. Not me,” Hunk pointed out. 

“Right. Says the paladin that must touch the mysterious alien thingy no matter if that gets you kicked off  a planet,” Allura said smugly.

“How did you know that?” Hunk asked.

“Lance talks,” Allura answered plainly. 

“As opposed to Keith, who does not talk,” Hunk retorted.

“Actually, we mostly enjoy each other’s company in silence. If one of us talks, it’s usually me. He is beginning to speak more, though,” Allura smiled, “I’m breaking down his walls.”

“Oh. So are you and Keith, are you two….uh…….you’re a princess so I’ll phrase this delicately, are you guys just friends?” 

That question nearly caused Allura to lose control of the entire ship. 

“Yes,” She finally said, “Keith is very fun to be around. But…….I really don’t like him. Not that way. Are you and Lance-”

“NO! I mean, uh,” Hunk sputtered, “we’re like brothers. Like I always say.”

“See how embarrassing the question is, though?” Allura asked.

“You’re embarrassed?” Hunk asked.

“Can’t you tell?” Allura shot back.

“Well, uh, not really. I have trouble with tones and expressions sometimes. Mostly just with people as composed as you are,” Hunk explained.

“I mean, you can’t tell by my marks?” Allura asked.

“What about your marks?”

“Don’t you notice when they change color?”

“Kinda? I can tell when it changes, but I’m colorblind. Why?”

“They function as sort of displayer of moods. Lance figured it out within the first week why they change color, and I think he’s putting together a chart of my different emotions.”

“Wow,” Hunk said, “that’s pretty cool.”

“Thanks, Hunk,” Allura smiled to herself, and in that moment, she was kind of glad Hunk didn’t know which colors represented which emotions, “we’re landing soon. I say again, suit up.”

“On it,” Hunk clicked his tongue and headed for the armor rack.

* * *

 

“Pidge, it’s Coran. I’m gonna walk you through sabotaging the castle, alright?” Shiro’s helmet was definitely a tight fit on his head.

“Okay. The first thing I think I need to do is get the force field down so that you guys can get back in. Tell me how to do that,” Pidge furrowed her brow.

“There’s a small emergency control panel somewhere in the upper deck near the dining hall for such an occasion. You can’t shut the entire castle down from there, but something you can do is turn the force field off. There’s almost no way to turn it back on from the main control panel after that unless you switch it back. Do you think you could do that?”

“Yeah,” Pidge peeked out from behind the pillar she was hidden behind. Five sentries stood blocking her path, and there’s no way they wouldn’t see her. She searched her bag for something to use to distract them. She pulled out a small ramekin she’d stolen from the castle to store water. Perfect.

Cautiously, Pidge aimed as well as she could, which wasn’t that well, in the direction opposite to the hallway she needed to go down to get to the stairs. The ramekin shattered on impact down the west hall, and the sentries headed in the direction of the noise almost immediately. 

Pidge made her move towards the East corridor, hoping the sentries couldn’t hear her breathing or the sound her shoes made as they tapped against the floor. There was a guard standing at the staircase, facing towards the staircase. Pidge was well more equipped to take care of one guard rather than five. Her main concern was getting the attention of the Galra general. Pidge, as quietly as she could, tiptoed behind the sentry and slipped her bayard out of her bag. 

When she electrocuted the sentry from behind, it went down with a loud clatter, and Pidge struggled to rush her way upstairs before the other sentries ran her direction. The dining hall was only a little ways away, she was thankful for that. She managed to just duck behind most of the sentries on her way to the dining hall. 

However, there was a great deal of sentries standing in the hall where the control panel was, hidden behind a small door like a fuse box. Pidge attacked them from front this time, since she was already at her first destination. She electrocuted all five sentries and reached the box. Opening the door, she saw that the small switches were labeled in Altean, something she was nowhere near proficient at. 

“Okay, coran, i’m at the box. Which one do I have to switch off?” Pidge asked.

“Well, if you want to buy us the most time possible, switch them all off. The force field  switch is third from the top,” Coran answered. 

Pidge flipped the force field switch off first, then slowly the rest of them. She heard running behind her, and saw that a group of sentries was headed right for her. They’d probably be able to figure out that the switches were the source of the problem and alert the General immediately. She took her bayard and plunged it into the control panel, effectively frying them and hoping Coran could fix them. For good measure, she used it to fuse the metal of the door to the panel.

* * *

 

When they landed on the planet, Allura was the first to leave the ship. They parked reclusively, within the crust of the Balmera. Cautiously, a small group of Balmerans approached the princess and the paladin. 

“Greetings. I am Allura,” Allura stepped forward, “I need your help, if you are willing to offer.”

“We are,” One stepped towards the princess. Another grabbed her shoulder.

“Shay, they are outsiders. What if this is a trick from Zarkon?” He asked.

“Being imprisoned for so long has caused you to be cautious. But you taught me from a young age that it is never okay to turn away people who need our help,” Shay argued.

“They have come to take from our dying planet, such as everyone else,” the other Balmeran frowned. 

“Dying?” Allura asked. Shay and the other Balmeran shared a look.

“The planet was conquered long ago by the Galrans. Our planet hosts many powerful crystals. But a special ceremony must be held in which one must give as much of themselves to the planet as they were given away. The Galra disregard this, only taking as they see fit, sucking our planet dry,” the Balmeran explained.

“That’s terrible,” Allura looked angry. 

“True, it is. You must forgive my brother for being so cautious. Truly, it is what protects us from our family being torn asunder,” Shay looked towards her brother. 

“You have come here for our crystals? To take from the balmera just like everyone else? That is the help you seek, true?” The brother asked. 

“Unfortunately, yes,” Allura looked down solemnly. 

“Unlike the Galra, though, we’re willing to do absolutely whatever we can to help,” Hunk chimed in, “but we’re kind of…...in a hurry.”

“They always are,” the brother scoffed.

“Rax, please,” Shay scolded her brother.

“The castle we live in is powered by Balmeran crystals, and our castle is under attack by the Galra. The crystals are dying and, well, my best friend is in desperate need of medical attention, and we can’t do that without power,” Hunk explained.

“Why not head to another Balmera, then? One that is not on it’s last breath?” Rax asked.

“Because if we let Lance-his best friend’s-wound to its own devices, he may die,” Allura answered.

“What?” Hunk demanded, “You didn’t tell me that!”

“I didn’t want to worry you more than you already were,” Allura grabbed his shoulder.

“Too late,” Hunk whimpered. 

“We will help you,” Shay finally said. 

“Shay!” Rax glared at her.

“They need our help. This Lance person needs our help. We know more than anyone what it’s like to watch something you love and care about die before your eyes,” Shay folded her arms. 

“Fine,” Rax grumbled. 

“I am Shay,” Shay smiled at the two, and this is my brother, Rax.”

“I’m Hunk. This is Princess Allura,” Hunk explained.

“A princess?” Rax scoffed, “Who better to fill my little sister’s head with fairytales.”  
“The crystals are heavily guarded, it’s not gonna be easy to get them . It appears we’ll have to create a diversion in order to get the crystals,” Shay said, ignoring Rax, “it will be difficult. Dangerous. But we will help you. If you are up to the task, that is.”

“Of course,” Hunk said, “I’ll do anything for my best friend. And for the Balmera.”

* * *

 

“Good work, Pidge!” Coran congratulated her. 

“Thanks,” Pidge smiled, “okay, what’s next?”

“The crystals are at the center of the castle. They’ll be easy to destroy, already having been damaged by ten thousand years of wear. Three sharp blows with your bayard should do about the trick.”

“On it,” Pidge ducked behind a hall to avoid being spotted by the sentries, “what are you guys going to do?”

“Getting Lance to the cryopods and fighting any sentries along the way. Shouldn’t be too difficult, though the absence of our bayards and armor should at least make things interesting.”

“Good luck,” Pidge said, heading for the center of the castle. 

“You as well,” Coran shut off the microphone and headed for the inside of the castle. 

* * *

 

“So, there are some crystals stored that do not have as many sentries guarding them at the very center of the planet, as I learned from a reliable source. It’s not going to be easy. And it could take a long while for us to get there. We may have to fight some guards off, but we should be alright. I only fear that it’s going to worsen the condition of the Balmera,” Shay explained.

“Trust us, as soon as we get the castle powered and take off, we’ll be on our way to help  you restore the planet,” Allura assured her. 

“You are a kind soul,” One of the older Balmerans approached, “those are hard to come by. Hold onto it, and you will make the world a better place simply by existing.”

“We will see,” Rax crossed his arms and walked away.

“Rax!” The older Balmeran followed after him.

“I apologise for my brother, I am sure my grandmother will give him a very stern lecture for speaking of you this rudely,” Shay said sheepishly.

“It’s quite alright,” Allura smiled, “to be fair, he does have a reason to distrust us.”

“What’s the deal with your brother, anyway?” Hunk asked, “I mean, if you don’t mind my asking.”

“He considers himself to be the protector of our family seeing as how he is my older brother,” Shay explained.

“What about your parents and grandmother?” Hunk asked. 

“None of them can stop Rax from being overprotective of the rest of us. We have seen many tragedies, including the tearing asunder of other families under the rule of Zarkon,” Shay continued.

“Wow. I’m sorry you have to live in such awful conditions,” Hunk’s tone was solemn.

“Oh, it is more awful than you can imagine,” Shay’s father cut in, “we are forced to work under the crust of the Balmera. Many of us never see daylight. My mother only remembers seeing it when she was a little girl.”

“That’s terrible,” Allura began to tear up, “we will help you in any way, any way we can.”

“Tell us, what is daylight like?” Shay smiled softly.

“It’s a never ending cycle of changing colors. And at night…..at night, the sky sparkles,” Allura explained.

“It sparkles?” Shay’s mother asked.

“Soon, you’ll get to see it for yourselves,” Hunk assured them.

“Even if the Balmera is restored, who is to say that the Galra will leave us alone?” Shay’s mother asked.

“Tell us, have you ever heard of something called Voltron?” Hunk asked.

“A child’s tale, passed around among the resistance as a beacon of hope,” Shay answered. She looked skeptical.

“Well, it’s real. I’m a paladin. We’re gonna save your planet. That is first on our agenda,” Hunk smiled.

“How do we know you’re telling the truth? You came in a regular ship-a Galra ship, nonetheless-If you were a paladin of Voltron, would you not come in the magical lions?” Shay’s father asked.

“Look, it’s really complicated. And I know you have a lot of reasons not to believe it. But I’m telling the truth. And if you trust me, you’ll be glad you did,” Hunk said.

“I trust you,” Shay smiled. Hunk smiled back.

“We had better start moving if we want to help your friend,” Shay’s father stood up, “and just so it is shown on the record, I trust you as well. Now be sure not to break that trust, or the trust of my little girl, understood?”

“Yessir,” Hunk said, standing up.

* * *

When Pidge reached the center of the castle, she eyed the crystals like they would disappear if she didn’t. They were in a large anti gravity chamber. She could see the cracks in the crystals almost from across the room, allowing her to justify what she was about to do. She walked towards the crystals, wondering how she was going to reach the Crystals without falling into the chasm below. At last, she spotted something adjacent to a ladder in her sight.

Unfortunately for her, she was not alone in the room. And this time it was not a sentry that kept her company, but an actual soldier. This was going to be harder than she thought. 

“A child?” He grimaced, “All this trouble because of a child?”

“Don’t underestimate me,” Pidge adjusted her stance to look as tall as she possibly could. 

“My dear, that would involve me giving you any credit whatsoever, which I do not, and will not,” The commander smirked. 

“If I’m just a helpless kid, then come and get me!” Pidge shouted. 

“I intend to, little brat,” The commander ran at her full force. 

Pidge readied her bayard, but she didn’t run in the direction of the Commander, but in the direction of the crystals. She ran up the ladder and plunged her bayard into them. It was a little bit like touching a doorknob after rubbing a balloon for an hour. Her braces rattled, and she could feel the Commander coming for the ladder. He knocked the ladder in the opposite direction of the crystals. 

She gasped when she hit the ground, feeling places bruise that she didn’t know could. Still, she sprung back up. The ladder was now not an option, so she had to get creative. She felt like she was playing a boss battle in a video game, only the hits actually hurt, and instead of hitting the enemy’s weak spot, you hit part of the scenery. 

Pidge figured though, that she would need to take the commander down for long enough to hit the crystals again. She eyed him, looking for a weakness. Her best bet was to take him down by the legs. She smirked and ran at him. He seemed ready for whatever she was about to do to him, but he didn’t expect her to duck and electrocute his legs. He fell backwards. 

Now Pidge had to figure out a way to strike the crystals. If she could swing her bayard just right, it would come back to her like a boomerang. She needed every bit of luck she could get as she swung at the crystals. But Pidge’s bayard didn’t come back to her after hitting the crystals, instead clattering across the room. Damn. 

The Commander came up behind her and picked her up in a very unpleasant tight grip.

“Do you see, child? I captured you. It took minimal energy, and now I have a new tester for Zarkon’s Witch,” the Commander cackled, “Anything you would like to say before I deliver you to Sendack?”

“Yeah, I do have one thing I’d like to say,” Pidge snarled.

“Which is?” The Commander triumphantly asked. 

“Bite me!” Pidge shouted, but what she did next was the opposite, sinking her teeth into a patch of exposed flesh.

The Commander yelped and freed her from his grip as she ran for her bayard. The commander ran after her, towards the crystals. He stood on the edge of them, directly in her way.

“I will not be bested by a child!” He growled.

“Too late!” Pidge smirked, throwing her bayard as hard as she could at the crystals. The crystals rattled the whole room as the whole thing cracked in half and lost its glowing properties. This also caused the anti gravity chamber to stop functioning, and the whole thing fell downwards into the chasm, taking the Commander with it. She managed to catch her bayard before it fell in as well. 

“I told you not to underestimate me!” She shouted. Then she turned her attention back to her friends, “I did it. Castle power is down!”

“Well done, number 5!” Coran told her. 

“Where are you guys?” Pidge asked, hearing the sounds of lasers being fired in the background. 

“We’re in the medical center! We’re surrounded! We managed to retrieve the bayards, but we could still use your help!” Coran explained.

“I’m on my way!” Pidge ran for the exit. Which was a lot harder to do now that it was dark.

* * *

 

When Hunk, Allura and the paladins reached the crystals, they were greeted with many more sentries than they expected, and Galra authority.

“You are all under arrest for assisting fugitives in the resistance!” One of the officers said.

“What? How?” Shay demanded. 

“I am sorry Shay,” Rax looked down.

“It was you who did this?” Shay demanded.

“We cannot afford for our family to be broken up. Something had to be done,” Rax defended. 

“In captivity we will be apart!” Shay shouted. 

“In captivity you will be safe, just as we have been for our whole lives,” Rax crossed his arms. 

“You call working ourselves down to nothing and breathing in dust to be safety?” Shay scoffed. 

“Please, there will be plenty of time for this family squabble behind the bars of a Galran prison,” The General snapped.

“Not on my watch,” Hunk growled, taking out a gun that he stole from the ship that he honestly did not know how to use. It had a trigger, he was fairly certain he could figure it out. 

“You think you can fight my soldiers with one gun?” The General laughed a horrible laugh. 

“I can try,” Hunk gulped.

“You won’t have to,” Allura deholstered her own gun. 

“No, you won’t,” Shay stepped forward. 

“Shay please, do not do something foolish,” Rax pleaded.

“I’m already under arrest for treason. I can do whatever I like and it will not worsen my punishment,” Shay pointed out, crashing the helmets of two sentries together.

“Well don’t just stand there!” The General cried, “Attack!”

The battle was short, but tiresome and taxing. It was a lot harder to take out sentries with a handful of Balmerans and a weapon you didn’t know how to use versus with the other paladins of Voltron. That was something Hunk knew now.

At last, they reached the crystals. 

“It’s going to take a great deal of energy for me and my family to replace what you are taking to keep this Balmera alive. I hope this will be worth it, paladin,” Shay’s father said.

“I hope so too,” Rax looked down. 

“It will be. I promise,” Hunk smiled. 

“I promise as well. It shouldn’t be more than a Solarian quintent at most for us to return,” The Princess added, “and thank you all, for everything.”

“I’m sure our efforts will be repaid in due time,” Shay smiled, “you both had better get going, before something happens to your friend or my brother tries to turn you in to any more authorities.”

“Right. Princess?” He looked towards Allura. 

“Let’s go take our castle back!” Allura shouted triumphantly.

* * *

Back in the medical room of the castle of lions, a grizzly battle was going on. Pidge, Keith, and Shiro were working well as a team, taking out the sentries in one go. Sendack nearly struck Keith, but out of nowhere, Lance woke up and shot the General. Keith looked at him in surprise, but couldn’t fixate on Lance for two long before turning his attention back to Sendack, punching the General.

Finally, all the Galra sentries were taken down. At last, the paladins could exhale. Keith headed for Lance. He reached his hand down to help Keith up, and Lance took his hand. But instead of using him to climb up, Lance gently pulled Keith down to face him. 

“We did it,” Lance smiled softly, “we are a good team.”

Keith in turn said nothing, only smiling at the blue paladin as he gripped his hand. 

“Hunk appears to be outside with the healing crystals!” Coran shouted excitedly, “He and the princess should be here in just a moment, so sit tight Lance.”

Lance sighed in protest and gently leaned his head against Keith’s shoulder and closed his eyes.

“Uh, Lance?” Keith asked. 

“Don’t tell me to move, mullet,” Lance mumbled wistfully, “not just yet.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dreamworks get on my level. Sorry for kinda sidelining Coran in this chapter, trust me, he will get major roles soon enough! I just thought it would be fun to experiment with Hunk and Allura's dynamic (not just for pairing purposes I promise!) Also between the bonding moment and Pidge showcasing her fighting skills and Hunk and Allura's interactions with Shay's family, this was probably my favorite chapter to write thus far
> 
> New chapter out tomorrow, yada yada yada, etc etc


	8. Here I dreamed I was a Hero

It was a week. That’s how long it took for Lance to heal. The week was long. Too long. It was excruciating. The team spent most of the week holed up in the castle, prepping it for takeoff. Those who weren’t Coran or the princess, however, spent most of their time in front of the cryopod that occupied the blue paladin. 

Keith spent five nights in front of the cryopod, sprawled out on the world’s thinnest sleeping bag. Hunk spent all seven nights. Keith wanted to too, but Hunk insisted that it was a good idea for Keith to at least try to sleep in a real bed. Keith was ready to explain the castle’s was the first comfortable bed he had slept in, and that he was more than ready to spend the night on the hard ground. It wasn’t that bad, honest. But he got the idea that Hunk wanted to be alone with Lance, so he backed off. 

Pidge tossed in her sleep every night while Lance was in the cryopod. She wondered why she felt so bad until she realized, and then she felt even worse. She was going to abandon her team. If she had left just an hour earlier, she would have not been able to help, and the castle would be under the control of Zarkon by now. It had felt so much like the right decision before, but she knew from the beginning that something was off, and yet she was going to do it anyway. Coran had questioned her about the bag she had been carrying on the night of the attack, and she said nothing. She found the note that she had written as a goodbye, and she set it on fire. 

As for Lance?

Sweet Lance, asleep and healing and oblivious to what was happening in the outside world, had five evenly spaced dreams to keep his mind occupied. 

The first was one where he was a firefighter, rushing into buildings and helping people out as much as he could. One house that he got a call from seemed to be his exact childhood home, only something was off. In the dream, he couldn’t figure out what was off about it. All he knew was something was off, and though the fact that it was occupied by a completely different family contributed to the odd vibe that the dream gave off, it wasn’t wholly it. He managed to save the whole family, but not the house. He watched from the outside as it burned to the ground. Backwards. The house was completely backwards was what it was. 

The second dream was that he was in a post apocalypse, surrounded by zombies and putting bullets through their skulls to survive. He was traveling with a small band of other survivors, mostly teenagers like him, but older. They’d scold him for rushing to eagerly to destroy a fleet of zombies, and he had to consistently wrench his brain away from the idea that these were once humans. He was bitten by a zombie, and he hid his wound for as long as he possibly could. The dream didn’t last long enough for him to find out what happened.

The third he was a runner, doing a marathon. His heart pounded and he could feel the wind on his cheeks. It almost….it almost felt real. He could tell it was a dream, though, and not the kind that you can manipulate to your liking. He was just a runner, with blobs where human silhouettes were supposed to be cheering him on. He was first to cross the finish line. 

The fourth he was a surgeon, helping someone deliver a baby. He couldn’t see any of the operation, possibly because he was so squeamish about anything involving blood. When he delivered the baby, there was something odd about them. They had a birthmark occupying about half their face. The birthmark was red, and it glowed like Allura’s marks. 

The fifth he was simply back home. With his family. His older sister teasing him about something, his mom making dinner while his other mom talked on the phone. It only lasted a few minutes, the dream. It was the one that finally made him snap back to reality. When the cropod open, he fell forward, only to be caught by Hunk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another Very short Lance centered chapter. This one is almost absurdly short. I had some other creative projects to work on today so I just wrote a transitional chapter. Tomorrow we get to meet two certain rebels without a cause~


	9. Thieves and Rebels

“So the castle has been a ship? This whole time?” Lance asked, wolfing down his breakfast. A week without food did a serious number on his stomach. 

“Yes, well, the castle’s primary purpose is to travel. That way the lions stay together, even if they are not formed in Voltron,” Coran beamed. 

“How’d you sleep?” Keith asked, leaning over the table.

“Fine, I guess?” Lance shrugged, “why do you care?”

“We’re friends now, right?” Keith asked. 

“Sort of. We called a truce, and you’re not so bad,” Lance looked down at his food. 

“Lance, I cradled you to the cryopod and I punched that Galra General for you,” Keith pointed out.

“Didn’t I shoot him first though?” Lance raised an eyebrow.

“We held hands and you rested your head on my shoulder, Lance,” Keith crossed his arms. 

“I remember exactly none of that, and you can’t prove that happened,” Lance argued. 

“I’ll prove it right here and right now, you motherfucker,” Keith growled. 

“Keith, that’s enough,” Shiro stepped in.

“But he-” Keith started. 

“Keith, enough,” Shiro repeated, “So, what’s on the itinerary for today?” 

“Well, we’re heading back to the Balmera so we can help Shay and her people, right, Princess?” Hunk looked towards Allura.

“Yes, absolutely,” Allura smiled. 

“I’ve already set a route, should be smooth sailing from here on out!” Coran smiled, “As long as we don’t get any distress signals between now and when we get to the Balmera-”

“Distress signals?” Hunk asked, “Coran, their planet is dying. We can’t afford any distress signals.”

“Looks like someone wants to see his giiiiirlfriend again,” Pidge smirked. 

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Hunk protested, “I like her a lot, but she is not my girlfriend.”

“Sure, whatever you say,” Pidge rolled her eyes.

“Knock it off, Pidge,” Allura came to Hunk’s defense. 

“Yeah uh,” Pidge rubbed the back of her neck, “speaking of the whole Pidge stuff, I kinda gotta talk to you guys.”

“How do you mean?” Allura asked.

“I haven’t really been honest with you guys. First of all……” Pidge hesitated, “First of all, I’m a girl.”

“Oh, well we knew that,” Allura shrugged.

“Yeah dude, did you miss the thing where I read your diary?” Hunk asked. 

“I figured when we saw the picture of you and Matt,” Keith said. 

“Excuse?” Lance looked concerned, “I had no idea Pidge, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, it’s not your fault I’m so good at disguising myself,” Pidge waved him off. 

“So I sleep for a week, Pidge is a girl, the castle can fly, and Keith is friends with me? Anything else?” Lance demanded.

“Nope, that’s it,” Allura laughed. 

“Hold that thought, there’s a distress signal coming from the control room,” Coran chimed in.

“A distress signal?” Hunk was concerned now, “Are you freaking kidding me?”

“It’s…….” Coran trailed off, “It ought to be a simple mission. A small group of rebels. Their ship broke down and they’re in need of help.”

“We could use a group of rebels on our team,” Keith rubbed his chin.

“We are a resistance, not a coalition,” Allura argued, “we will fix their ship and leave.”

“I’m just saying,” Keith shrugged, “a stronger rebel alliance could really mean-”

“Keith, what the Princess says goes,” shiro spoke sternly.

“Hi, hello, speaking of that,” Hunk chimed in, “shouldn’t we head straight for the Balmera, Princess?”

“Hunk, as much as I would like to say yes,” Allura looked away, “we need to help everyone we can.”

“Yeah, if they’re under attack by the Galra. These guys just broke down. They can get out of this themselves,” Hunk retorted.

“Hunk……” Allura pleaded.

“Fine, fine, but this is a bad idea. I can feel it in the pit of my stomach,” Hunk grumbled.

* * *

 

 

When the ship landed, the rebels stood outside, waiting for them. Shiro was the first to leave the ship, catching the sight of the two rebels. They were both tall, one yellow and with large hands and dawning a smile, the other purple with scraggly facial hair and an absolutely ridiculous outfit on. Shiro opened his mouth to speak, but the purple alien beat him to the punch. 

“Thanks for coming, we were worried we’d be stuck here for a while,” he said warmly as the other paladins exited the ship.

“It is our duty as the paladins of voltron to help anyone in need,” Allura waved off his gratitude. 

“The paladins of Voltron?” The yellow alien stepped forward, “Awesome.”

“We try,” Lance chimed in, squinting at the aliens.

“So, you’re part of the resistance?” Shiro asked. 

“I don’t really think Zarkon has us on his watchlist or anything, but we do what we can,” The purple alien explained, walking towards Shiro, “I’m Rolo, by the way.”

“Shiro,” Shiro took a step backwards. 

“I’m Nyma and we’ve gotta start on this quick, otherwise Beezer won’t be able to recharge,” The yellow alien interrupted.

“She’s right,” Rolo rubbed the back of his neck. 

“Beezer?” Lance asked.

“Our robot. He’s the best, but he takes a few days to recharge, and it’s not good for him to wait until he’s completely dead to do it,” Nyma explained. 

“As you can probably tell, she’s the one who runs things around here, or at least the one who yells at me to get things done,” Rolo chuckled. 

“Well, let me go grab some of my tools so we can get this over with,” Hunk turned around to head back into the castle.

“Hunk!” Shiro scolded.

“What? You didn’t say I had to be nice,” Hunk pointed out. 

* * *

The team settled into helping the rebels, Hunk and Pidge helping out with the actual mechanics while the other paladins did what they could outside of that. Shiro stood with Rolo as he worked.

“So, you guys travel around doing what, exactly?” Shiro asked as he handed Rolo a mystery alien tool that felt heavy in Shiro’s hand. 

“Well we mostly just uh,” Rolo paused, “we travel around helping other groups of rebels fix their ships. I’m kind of a mechanic of sorts. That’s what makes today ironic, you helping us I mean.”

“Ah,” Shiro cracked his knuckles, “it’s just you, Nyma and Beezer out here?”

“Well yeah,” Rolo nodded, “hand me the tool with the little trigger on it?”

“Sure,” Shiro handed him what he could only assume to be the alien equivalent of a flamethrower. 

“Thanks.”

“Did you guys always travel together?”

“Always is a loaded word, Shiro. No,” Rolo furrowed his brow.

“Ah.” Shiro drummed his fingers along the edge of the ship. 

“Ask.”

“What?” 

“You look like you want to ask a question. So, ask.”

“Was it always just the three of you?” Shiro asked.

“No,” Rolo answered vaguely.

“I see,” And Shiro was ready to leave it alone, but then:

“There used to be more of us,” Rolo explained quietly, “and it wasn’t pretty, the way things ended, I mean. After something like that happens, you get used to traveling in a smaller group. Lookin’ out for yourself more and whatnot. You can’t resist if you’re dead, far as I know.”

“That’s true,” Shiro looked down, “do you ever miss it? Traveling with others, I mean.”

“Sometimes,” Rolo sighed, “A lot of times. I can’t tell if I miss the people or the company itself, so who knows?”

“Right,” Shiro took off his helmet.

“Enough of that sappyness, though. Hand me the one with the little oval shape carved onto the handle.”

“No problem,” Shiro handed him such. Their skin touched briefly and Shiro yanked his arm away. It was silent for a little while after that as Rolo concentrated. 

“I think I’d go back to being in a bigger group, if I found the right one,” Rolo explained.

“Define the right one.”

“Well, it would have to be a group of tight knit individuals who could stop me from doing rude or selfish or stupid things,” He stopped and looked up, “that’s a problem Nyma seems to think I have. Anyway, I’d need to get along with the people fine. Otherwise things just blow up in your face.”

“If someone asked you to join their group, would you consider it?”

“Depends,” Rolo smirked at Shiro, “Depends on the person who’s asking.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Rolo frowned, “You’ve got one of those personalities that makes people wanna tell you things.”

“Is that...a bad thing?” Shiro asked.

“Right now, in this moment, maybe. Probably.”

“Hmm,” Shiro folded his arms.

“You’ve got nice hair, though,” Rolo said after a while, “you’ve got that going for you.” Shiro smiled down at him.

* * *

 

“So what’s it like, being a paladin of Voltron?” Nyma asked.

“A lot of fun,” Lance answered, “a lot of danger, though, too. Like lion taming. Which is funny because-”

“Do you think I could see your lion?” Nyma asked impatiently.

“Uh, I don’t know. I don’t think that would be a good idea what with Hunk’s paranoia and all,” Lance answered.

“So Hunk, he’s the one in charge?” Nyma asked.

“Not nearly as in charge as he thinks he is. Calls himself the voice of reason, but that’s only true when he stops someone from doing something stupid.”

“So why can’t we go, then?” Nyma raised an eyebrow. 

“Because,” Lance started walking in circles around her, “because Hunk is my best friend and I trust his judgement. No offense, or anything.”

“It’s alright,” Nyma sighed purposefully overdramatically, “I guess I could ask Keith, or something.”

“No no!” Lance protested, “I mean, I guess it couldn’t hurt to take a look inside the lion. A quick tour of the hangar and everything.”

“Oh, thank you, Lance!” Nyma exclaimed, trying to hide her triumphant smirk with the fakest smile that had ever been witnessed ever probably. 

Lance took her hand and led her towards he castle of lions, sneaking past Hunk. Nyma smiled as he led her to the hangar, the mice giving out protestant squeaks as they slid down the zipline towards the blue lion. Nyma held onto him tightly, and when they got in the lion, they squeezed tightly into the chair. 

“Wow! This technology is so incredible,” Nyma genuinely marveled at the various buttons and controls. 

“Feel free to geek out if you need to. It is pretty awesome,” Lance affirmed. 

“The main controls are unlike anything I’ve ever seen before,” Nyma’s eyes were wide and her face spread into a wide grin. She turned back to Lance, “do you think we could take it for a quick lap around the planet?”

“First of all, she, not it. Second of all, I know for a fact that is a bad idea.”

“How do you figure?” Nyma furrowed her brow.

“Because my glasses are still broken because resident asshole of the red lion stepped on them. Also, it is a generally bad idea because Hunk would kill me and I don’t wanna die before the sequel to my favorite video game is released.”

“Come on,” Nyma pleaded, “just one quick lap around the planet, and then maybe a detour to the moon. That’s all.”

“I guess I could ask blue,” Lance rubbed the back of his neck, “yo, blue!”

_ This is not even the worst idea you’ve had all week, my son. _

“You think you could give us a hand in flying?” Lance asked, seemingly ignoring Blue’s remark. 

_ This is a horrible, horrible idea. but because I do not want you to crash me into anything, fine. _

“Thanks, Blue!” Lance grinned, “We have it covered.”

“Great!” Nyma smirked.

“Let’s make it quick, though,” Lance added. 

“Hey, no complaints here,” Nyma said. 

* * *

 

“Hey, Allura, could you come see something?” Hunk asked. The princess walked over with a look of exasperation on her face.

“Yes, what is it now, Hunk?” Allura asked. 

“I noticed something while I was fixing the outer control panel,” Hunk pointed at the bits of scrap metal in his workspace.

“What about that?” Allura squinted. 

Well, the mechanisms were so fried, that I just had to replace the whole thing. Not fried like electrocution fried, fried like fire fried.”

“Odd,” Allura agreed.

“At first I thought it was an attack that they didn’t notice on their ship, like someone fired at them and then that took the controls down,” Hunk paused for dramatic effect, “but that makes almost literally no sense, because the door of the panel isn’t damaged at all. Let me repeat, princess, the hit was so bad that the controls caught fire and fried the whole system, but not bad enough to damage any part of the door.”

“Almost as if it was self sabotage, of some kind,” Allura observed.

“Exactly!” Hunk exclaimed. 

“But why would they sabotage their own system?” Allura asked. Her eyes quickly widened, “Unless….”

“Unless what, unless what?” Hunk looked worried. 

“Has anyone seen Lance?” Pidge asked. 

“Oh, Lance, please don’t tell me you’re that much of a hopeless romantic that you would…” Hunk cut himself off, running towards the castle. The rest followed quickly. Sure enough, the blue lion was missing from the hangar.

“LANCE!” Hunk shouted his best friend’s name like it was a swear, a talent only best friends possess. 

“What’s going on?” Shiro asked.

“It appears that we have been tricked into thinking we have allies, and the blue lion is goodness knows where,” Allura said in a tone of voice that made it very clear that she was trying not to freak out.

“That’s…” Shiro trailed off and closed his eyes.

“We’ve gotta stop Rolo while we have the chance,” Hunk pointed out, but just then, he heard the ship taking off. 

“So none of us were outside when Rolo just left?” Pidge asked.

“Nope,” Keith answered.

“We’re idiots. All of us. Every last one of us,” Hunk pinched the bridge of his nose.

“What’s the plan?” Keith asked.

“Get to your lions,” Shiro commanded.

“Bad idea. Monumentally bad. There’s an asteroid field surrounding this planet and if we all go, we’re all gonna get stuck,” Pidge pointed out, “unless we take the castle of lions, which can crash through them no problem, but it’s too slow to catch up to Rolo and Nyma.”

“Then you, Keith, get to your lion. 0Red is fast and small enough to weave through easily and catch up to Rolo and Nyma,” Allura nudged Keith.

“There is still the problem of what we’re gonna do if they outrun us,” Shiro pointed out.

“Not necessarily,” Hunk grinned, “because I sabotaged their gas gage. It should leak out the bottom and stop them really quickly.”

“In any other situation I would chew you out for that terrible violation,  but it may be our only shot,” Shiro sighed, “Keith, get to your lion.”

* * *

 

Once Lance and Nyma landed on the moon, it wasn’t long before Nyma had him in handcuffs, tied to a tree with no dignity intact. 

“Wait a second, wait!” Lance protested, “You can’t just leave me like this!”

“I’m sorry, Lance, you really do seem like a nice guy,” Nyma laughed, “it’s just that the reward for giving a lion of Voltron to Zarkon is just a little bit nicer.”

She whipped around as Rolo’s ship came into view, and snatched the blue lion with ease. Nyma grabbed the rope ladder hanging from the ship as she blew a kiss to Lance. 

“Perhaps we will meet again under better circumstances!” Nyma shouted as the ship took off. She climbed the ladder, quickly and greeted her friend inside.

“Well that was easy,” Rolo remarked.

“Says the guy who spent most of his day flirting with the black paladin,” Nyma smirked.

“Nym, I was not flirting,” Rolo protested.

“Uh huh, sure,” she rolled her eyes, “Just fly, loverboy.” Silence fell between the two of them.

“Nyma?” Rolo asked.

“Yeah?” 

“Do you remember when we were supposed to be the good guys?”

“I don’t think we were ever really good guys, Rolo,” Nyma pointed out, “I don’t think good guys surrender something to the enemies just for some money.”

“You would have been a good guy if we hadn’t met,” Rolo frowned.

“You give yourself too much credit,” Nyma sighed. She swallowed her guilt. And that was when they noticed that someone was on their tail.

“No way. Absolutely no way,” Rolo clapped his head against the control panel.

“You didn’t make sure we weren’t followed?” Nyma demanded.

“Sorry, you usually are the one who makes sure we aren’t being followed,” Rolo pointed out. 

“Well, who is it?” Nyma asked.

“It’s…” Rolo squinted, “the red lion.”

The red lion weaved effortlessly through the asteroid field, almost as if it was dancing. 

“This kid can fly,” Rolo was impressed.

“Not as fast as us, I hope,” Nyma said, engaging the power thrusters and increasing their speed. And it seemed like they might get away for about six minutes, until they ran out of gas, that is.

“Shit.” Nyma hissed.

* * *

 

“I told you guys! I told you these weirdos were fishy! But nooooo Hunk just wants to see his girlfriend, and by the way she is not my girlfriend, and he couldn’t possibly be right! This just goes to show that when you listen to the voice of reason-”

“Hunk, enough,” Shiro shut him up. He turned his attention towards the rebels, now themselves bound at the wrist, “Well, you stole the blue lion for about long enough for us to notice, you must be proud.”

“Not at all,” Nyma sighed, “You know, the whole time, part of me was rooting for you guys to catch us. My past self would be so ashamed of me.”

“For what it’s worth, we do hope you stop Zarkon. I know it’s hard to believe, but we really needed the money. We are rooting for you,” Rolo said.

“You lied to us. That shows enough of your character that we need to know,” Shiro turned away.

“It was all true. Everything I told you when you were helping me out was true,” Rolo added. 

“Jesus, these two are talking like bitter exes in a bad movie,” Pidge rolled her eyes. Shiro closed his.

“You need something to be a part of. You need to be in a place with balance. And if you double cross us again, it is absolutely it,” Shiro crossed his arms.

“I’m sorry, what now?” Hunk demanded.

“We could leave you here to your own devices, let you continue to be con artists, living with that guilt every day,” Shiro kneeled to face Rolo, “but I think there’s something in you that wants to be a good person, and fighting the good fight.”

“It’s heavily repressed, but yeah,” Rolo smirked. 

“So if the rest of the team agrees,” Shiro turned around to face his team, “a home in the castle is yours, if you want it.”

“I do suppose you seem actually remorseful, and I vowed to always help those in need,” Allura nodded slowly. 

“As long as they stay out of my stuff,” Pidge chimed in. 

“We could always use a little help around the castle,” Keith shrugged.

“What, Coran and Lance don’t get votes?” Hunk mumbled.

“We can discuss it with them when we get the chance,” Shiro said, “your vote, however-”

“There is absolutely no way,” Hunk shook his head, “I still don’t trust these fuckers.”

“And with good reason. You don’t have to trust them, but you do trust me, don’t you?” Shiro asked. 

“Well,” Hunk glared at the rebels, “Yeah. Yeah I trust you.”

“So?” Shiro cocked his head to the side at Rolo and Nyma hopefully.

“I’m in if you’re in,” Rolo looked to Nyma, “We’re a team, you and me. But...this could be good for us. It’s been a long time since we’ve been a part of something important.”

“You’re probably making a mistake,” Nyma grinned, “I’m in.”

“Welcome to the team,” Shiro smiled, cutting Rolo loose.

“Thanks for giving me-us- a chance to prove ourselves,” Rolo smiled warmly.

“I guess I’ll go cut Lance loose,” Keith said, pointing to his lion.

“Tell him that I’m not that mad at him, but I’m still gonna kill him,” Hunk instructed.

* * *

 

“So now Rolo and Nyma are on the team, not an hour after she left me tied up to a tree?” Lance asked.

“Hold still,” Keith instructed, cutting Lance loose with his knife, “Yeah, I’m surprised too. But, hey, Nyma does seem pretty cool.”

“Really?” Lance’s voice went all high pitched, “So you think you might, like, ask her out?” 

Keith tried to speak, but he just started laughing hysterically.

“What?” Lance asked, “What’s so funny?”

“Oh, you’re not kidding?” Keith’s smile faded.

“Do I seem like I’m kidding?” Lance raised an eyebrow.

“Lance, I’m gay,” Keith looked as surprised as Lance did, but for different reasons.

“Oh,” Lance looked down, “I mean, you didn’t seem straight but I didn’t want to assume anything.” Keith just shrugged.

“Let’s get in the lion and head back to the castle,” Keith suggested.

“Thanks, for the record,” Lance said.

“Lance, you don’t have to thank me,” Keith sighed.

“Oh I absolutely do. Especially since how much of an ass I was this morning,” Lance looked sheepish.

“Eh, it’s not like I’ve been so great either,” Keith smiled.

“I guess we’re just new at this whole truce thing,” Lance said.

“Yeah, we’ll get the hang of it though,” Keith playfully punched Lance on the shoulder.

“We should get going before they think we’re recreating the bonding moment up here,” Lance said.

“I’m sorry, did you just say the bonding moment?” Keith actually grinned.

“I did no such thing!” Lance said, sprinting towards the lion.

“Yes you did!” Keith ran after him.

“Didn’t!”

“Did!” 

“Did NOT!”

* * *

 

When they all got back to the castle of lions, Coran had about a billion questions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This uh....got away from me. I hope you guys like reading this fic as much as I like writing it and i was listening to my klance and shirolo playlists the entire time whoops


	10. Rejuvenation

Hunk woke up early every day. It was just how he was used to. When they were still on Arus, he would catch Lance on his morning jog. That was when Lance felt most free and happy. But now that they left, he mostly roamed the hallways in silence. It was kind of sad, watching his best friend go back to being as sad and lost as he was in the early days when they were all just getting used to each other. Keith woke up pretty early too, though Hunk knew he also stayed up pretty late at night. 

Hunk caught Shiro looking in the mirror in the mornings, not out of want to look nice or anything. Just standing there, studying himself in the mirror. Sometimes Hunk wanted to say something, but then again, he  considered himself to be the least close to Shiro. Lance and Keith were the closest with him.

Hunk headed for the lounge, one of the most universally favorite rooms in the castle. But when he got there, he was disappointed at what he saw. Rolo was sitting on the couch, toying with Beezer’s mechanisms.

A week, or around that. That was how long Rolo and Nyma had been living at the castle. Somehow, even with how weird everything else was, that was the thing that Hunk kept fixating on. Why this jackass in particular? And okay, even though Hunk’s distrust of Rolo was completely justified, Hunk had to admit that maybe he was getting a little antsy while they coasted in a crawl towards the dying Balmera. He had asked why, and Coran had explained that the castle moved far slower than the lions or the ship that he and Allura had stolen. 

“Hey,” Rolo flashed a toothy grin. When Hunk just squinted at him, Rolo’s smile faded as fast as it appeared on his face. Rolo pointed at Beezer, “uh, I can take him somewhere else. If you want, I mean, this is more your home than mine.”

“Whatever,” Hunk said. Rolo frowned at his robot, and Hunk walked to the dining hall for some breakfast. 

“Morning,” Shiro said chirpily.

“Morning,” Hunk echoed back, “did you tell Rolo that he could work on his robot in the  lounge?”

“Yeah,” Shiro straightened up, “you didn’t kick him out or anything, did you?”

“No, I decided it was better for me to leave than for him,” Hunk answered.

“Progress,” Shiro clapped his hands together. He did this when something good happened, and it reminded Hunk of this really easily excited teacher he had back in school, before the Garrison.

“I did glare at him, though,” Hunk admitted.

“Hunk,” Shiro sighed. 

“What? You never said I had to be anything more than civil to him,” Hunk pointed out. 

“He’s making an effort to be a better person,” Shiro said slowly, “and you are not creating the best environment for him to do that in.”

“If he needs motivation to be good, then-”

“Not what I meant,” Shiro rolled his eyes. The two of them sat down with their food goo and waited for the others to get up.

* * *

“Good news, everyone!” Coran said much too loudly for how early it was for about half the ship passengers, including himself, “We are approaching the Balmera, and we should arrive there within a Varga!”

“Great!” Hunk perked up.

“We’re approaching what?” Nyma asked. 

“The Balmera is the planet that Hunk got the crystals that saved my life,” Lance explained.

“Yeah, and this mission is really important, so if you or Rolo try anything funny, like stealing crystals for reward money, I will kick ass.”

“Hunk,” Shiro said in a warning tone.

“No no, that’s absolutely something we would do,” Rolo laughed. Hunk did not. 

“We’ll behave ourselves,” Nyma rolled her eyes, “Out of curiosity, why is this mission in particular so important?”

“It’s the mission where we get to see Hunk’s giiiiirlfriend,” Pidge teased.

“She is not my girlfriend!” Hunk protested.

“Whatever,” Pidge winked at him.

“She is NOT his girlfriend!” Allura came to his aid, a little loudly at that.

“So what, exactly are we gonna do when we get there?” Keith asked, “I mean Allura told me the rejuvenation process can be gruelling even on a healthy Balmera.”

“Whatever we can,” Hunk answered. 

“That’s not vague and ominous at all,” Lance chimed in. Noticing his squinting, Coran stepped forward.

“Lance, that reminds me,” Coran held his hands behind his back, “I managed to repair your bifocals!”

“That’s great, because I’m pretty sick of falling down stairs,” Lance smiled.

“Better give em to him quick, I’ve seen him do target practice without them on,” Nyma chimed in.

“Yeah yeah,” Lance rolled his eyes.

* * *

 

They couldn’t land on the planet, not with the ship at least. Coran stayed behind in orbit while five paladins, two rebels and one princess crammed into the black lion and entered the planet’s crust. The team left the lion cautiously, hoping that they hadn’t overlooked any sentries on their way down. 

“Hunk!” Shay shouted, delighted and running towards the yellow paladin, what Shay could only assume was the other paladins, allura, a purple smelly looking man and probably the prettiest girl Shay had seen in her life. She hugged Hunk so tightly he could feel her through his armor. 

“Hey, Shay,” He wheezed. When she let him go, Hunk began introducing the others, “You’ve met the princess, but these are the other paladins. This is Lance, Keith, Shiro, Pidge, Nyma and...Rolo.”

“It is lovely to meet you all,” Shay beamed, “I am afraid we do not have much time, so I suggest we formulate a plan.”

“I can help,” Rax said. 

“You most certainly cannot,” Shay argued. 

“Sister, I know now that these are the paladins of Voltron, and I am willing to help save our planet. If you will not believe my loyalty to you, believe my loyalty to my family and our home,” Rax reasoned with her.

“Very well,” Shay squinted, “3 I suppose I do believe in that. But our planet is dying, perhaps by days end, and we cannot risk you doing something that will destroy our home.”

“You have my absolute word,” Rax looked down. 

“Sorry to interrupt, but did you say that this planet could be destroyed by days end?” Keith asked.

“Yes,” Shay looked worried, “our home never been as bad as this. The ground cracks beneath our feet and we must make haste before it is too late.”

“So what’s the plan?” Shiro asked.

“We must find a way to clear the planet of sentries without damaging our planet further,” Rax explained.

“Keith, you take out sentries at a close distance. No explosions or anything like that,” Shiro instructed.

“Wait, Keith is going alone?” Lance asked.

“If you’re concerned about him on his own, you can go with, but no using your bayard,” Shiro answered.

“Sick, I can handle hand to hand combat,” Lance put up his fists for emphasis.

“There are thousands of them,” Rax responded.

“If anyone can handle a challenge like that, it’s Keith and Lance,” Allura chimed in. 

“Next we have to perform the rejuvenation ceremony, which will effectively cure our planet. If we do it correctly, that is,” Rax continued.

“Define correctly,” Hunk chewed his nails.

“Giving up energy and quintessence in order to heal the planet,” Shay explained, “if you are asking what exactly what you must do, it is to touch the soil and let it take your energy. In a Balmera of this state,this process can be dangerous, but not if you have enough energy to support it.”

“Humans have approximately zero quintessence,” Hunk bit his thumb nail.

“That may be a problem indeed,” Allura leaned on Hunk and he could feel his skin prickling.

“We can help,” Shay’s grandmother chimed in, “it is our duty.”

“Grandmother, the Galra have taken all the energy and quintessence we have to spare. The process could slaughter our planet and our people,” Rax pointed out. 

“That is not an option,” Allura insisted, “if we do not have enough energy to give back to the planet, we will still evacuate and save you all.”

“If we let our planet die without us, we have no pride, nor humility to show for our lives to begin with,” Shay’s Grandmother said. 

“My grandmother is right,” Shay sighed, “if our planet must die, then we should make the choice to die with it, for it is our fault for not defending it.”

“While I admire your loyalty, there is no way that I am letting any of you die today,” Allura furrowed her brow. 

“But there is no way that one Altean has enough energy to save an entire planet,” Rax looked down. 

“Rax,” Shay gasped.

“Perhaps I was right not to trust you to save us,” he continued, eyes closed.

“Rax, look,” Shay commanded. The rest there followed her gesture. And a sight to behold it was. Allura’s hand leaned on the wall of the cave, her hand illuminating the wall around it. Allura retracted her hand, and the powerful blue glow disappeared.

“You have great power inside you, princess,” Shay’s Grandmother said, “perhaps even enough to save our planet.”

“Not without severely injuring her,” Rax pointed out “Possibly killing her even.”

“Not if all of us help,” Shay’s grandmother said.

“It is a risk,” Rax said as if that wasn’t obvious to literally everyone around him. 

“One you are willing to take, I hope,” Shay smiled, putting her hand on Rax’s shoulder.

“Of course,” Rax nodded.

“But how will we reach the other Balmerans?” Allura asked.

“Touch the wall again, my dear,” Shay’s Grandmother instructed, “you can speak to all the Balmerans with the walls of the caves. They are all connected.”

“Alright,” Allura touched her hand to the wall again, feeling every Balmeran walking the planet. Every single one. She felt their hurt and sadness, but she felt something else as well; Hope. Cautiously, she began speaking. “Balmerans, I am the princess Allura of Altea. You do not know me, but I come with an important message. The planet Altea, my home, was destroyed by the Galra many years ago, and I refuse to let them take another planet! It is easier to give up than it is to fight, but we can save the Balmera if we work together! If we all give a little of our energy, the planet will be rejuvenated, and you can begin the dawn of a new day. It will be difficult, but if we hold onto hope through all things, nothing is impossible!”

“Your words have touched our lives, princess,” Shay’s grandmother said, “And you have given us reason to hope again.”

“We’ve gotta get rid of the Galra sentries, and quick,” Shiro said as the Balmera moaned in pain. 

“Leave that to Lance and me,” Keith said, grabbing the blue paladin by is collar.

* * *

Allura stood in the middle of the bridge to the castle of lions. She smiled as she watched the other Balmerans gather around her.

“When your father performed this ceremony, it was on a much smaller scale,” Coran pointed out, “are you sure you are ready for something of this caliber?”

“When it comes to helping others, Coran,” she looked up, “my certainty knows no bounds.” The other Balmerans were ready. It was now or never as the Balmera groaned louder than ever before. She reached to the ground, and instantly felt the quintessence flowing through her veins towards the surface of the Balmera. The rest followed in her actions, letting the soil suck away slowly at their energy. Under the circumstances of a healthy Balmera, the ceremony only left mild weakness and possibly the need for a nap. 

With this intensity, Allura could feel herself drain like she was being deflated. She felt weak, then she fell to her knees. But she could feel something else. The feeling of the rock and soil that made up the ground becoming less cracked as it took the energy of her and of millions of Balmerans. Allura could swear, it felt like the planet was thanking her. 

At last, when Allura felt as if she had no more energy to give and her hand stopped lighting the ground up, she looked at the Balmera. It was a different Balmera from the one she had landed on. It was healthy once again, and it was practically glowing. The citizens rejoiced, the Voltron team heading towards her and Shay and her family doing the same. 

“You have done it!” Her mother said.

“We have done it,” Allura corrected, beaming.

“At last, our planet is renewed to its former glory,” Shay’s Grandmother said. 

“We are glad we were able to help,” Allura smiled.

“Not in vein, either,” Shay’s Grandmother took Allura’s hand, “if there’s anything you ever need from us, you know where to find us.”

“I could never ask anything of you,” Allura pulled her hand away.

“You can try,” Shay’s Grandmother smiled, and even though she was made of rock, her eyes crinkled.

“Princess, I am so proud of you!” Coran grinned, hugging her. 

“Thank you, Coran,” Allura hugged back weakly. 

“We have to get you to sleep, and get the castle back up in the air,” Coran said.

“I guess this is goodbye, then,” Shay gave a soft smile.

“For us, dear, but not for you,” Shay’s Grandmother chimed in.

“What?” Shay asked.

“The Balmera was enslaved when I was just a little girl. My mother always told me wonderful stories about how she traveled the galaxy in her youth, learning fantastical adventures that I never will. She hoped I would one day get to do the same,” Shay’s Grandmother looked down, “A dream we were not free in time to seem accomplished. But I always hoped it for my son and now, I rejoice in knowing that you can.”

“This is my home,” Shay argued, “I could never in good conscience leave.”

“If you do not wish to, you may remain here, a freed life on your home planet,” Shay’s Grandmother touched her face, “but if you want to travel for a while, even a great while, it is a disservice to yourself not to.”

“My mother is right, Shay,” her father chimed in, “you are welcome home any time,  but if it is your wish, you owe it to yourself to see what wonders the universe has to offer.

Shay’s eyes flickered, first to her father, then her mother, then her grandmother, then her brother and at last to Team Voltron. She was silent as she thought for a long while.

“I will miss you all greatly,” Shay hugged her family members tightly as she could, holding back tears. 

“We will miss you too,” her mother sobbed. After what seemed like a few hours, Shay let go. 

“Please,” Rax put his hand on Hunk’s shoulder, “please take care of her.”

“I give you my word,” Hunk nodded.

“Then I bid you farewell, dear sister, and hope you will write frequently,” Rax said.

“Not just yet,” Hunk said.

“Huh?” Shay looked at her new friend in confusion.

“There’s still one more thing we have to do before we can leave,” Hunk continued.

“You have already done so much for us,” Shay protested, “I would not want you to give up any more.”

“It’s simple, I promise,” Hunk assured her, tugging at her arm.

“Where are we going?” Shay asked.

“To watch the sunrise, of course,” Hunk grinned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you can probably tell from this chapter, I'd prefer Voltron if it was Character based instead of story based like Voltron actually is. I cut a lot of stuff out, mainly having to do with rolo and nyma ratting on them to the Galra, causing Haggar to send a giant robeast that takes up the conflict of what, two episodes? That doesn't fit with this storyline at all lol anyway I'm bad at writing monsters of the week and playing to my strengths has also been helpful. Hope you guys enjoy, comment kudos, sharing, screaming at your friends at three oclock in the morning about it as i did once upon a time many moons ago


End file.
